


Sanctuary

by SapphireIceheartt



Series: Death and His Daughter [2]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Minor Violence, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28572825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphireIceheartt/pseuds/SapphireIceheartt
Summary: While Sapphire is training to become a druid in the safety of the Moonglade, dark threats still loom over her. Her father continues to keep secrets from her, but that won't last forever. Tensions between the Horde and the Alliance are escalating. Meanwhile across the world, a young paladin is struggling in his own training.
Relationships: Arthas Menethil/Jaina Proudmoore
Series: Death and His Daughter [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065923
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

The worst aspect of being a paladin in training? Waking up before even the sun rises. Ethan Calwood groaned as he rolled out of his bunk. Everything was sore. His muscles would strengthen, said his trainers. Ethan spent his entire life running around forests, which had built up his agility but not his strength. Training with weapons, wearing heavy sheets of plate metal all day, and learning to ride destriers took their toll on Ethan's lanky body.

The young man wearily made his way through the barracks toward the lavatory. He went over to a basin and splashed cold water onto his face. For his entire childhood, he had never been in a bathroom before. Now he felt like he could never live without them. Only upon his arrival to Hearthglen did he finally see himself in a mirror. When he first saw his dirt coverd face and ragged hair, Ethan felt a bit ashamed. Especially when the other trainees mocked him.

Before the others could finish getting ready, Ethan was already dressed and heading out of the barracks. However, he had to briefly stop at his bunk bed. With a swift move he got on his hands and knees and looked underneath the bed. A second later a silvery grey snout popped out and a tongue came out to lick him on the face. Ethan grinned

"You stay out of trouble, little brother. I just barely convinced the quartermaster to let you inside again."

More of a head followed and the face of a hyena looked up at him with gleaming large eyes. Ethan scratched the hyena behind the ears.

"Good boy, Stub. I'll be back by lunch!"

One thing about being a paladin was they admired simplicity. Breakfast was usually simple. That day it was a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, a sliced apple, and hot tea. Ethan scarfed it down quickly and headed out of Hearthglen's keep toward the sparring fields.

Badrinn Hammerstorm was there before his student as always. The dwarf looked up from the book he was reading and saw Ethan coming.

"There ye are, laddie! Punctual as always."

Ethan nodded in acknowledgement but he was never in a talkative mood in the morning. He yawned loudly.

The dwarf put down his book and went over to the weapons racks. He took out two training swords and tossed one to Ethan.

"I think we should focus on defense today, don't ye?" Badrinn suggested, before outright attacking Ethan. The young man might be taller than the dwarf but that did not matter when it came down to skills. Badrinn always enjoyed bruising his students, though he did not do so out of cruelty. Bruises were just brief reminders to learn from your mistakes, he said.

The dwarf swung at Ethan with the sword and the boy parried by catching it with his own. He shoved the sword aside and attacked with his own moves.

"Good! Ye always struggling with parryin'. But focus on yer basics. Hold the sword in the ready position at all times! Move yer right foot back, boy!"

The dwarf's rebukes were not just a way to keep Ethan learning but it was also a way to attempt to distract the student. Ethan had to both listen to Badrinn and also keep himself from being beaten black and blue.

After they finished sparring with swords, Badrinn gave Ethan a brief break. The dwarf was not as orthodox as the other teachers so he would not only teach his students melee weapons, but also ranged weapons. He thought paladins should have a well rounded education.

Ethan was working with a crossbow when he heard snickering behind him. He did not even bother looking back to see who it was. It was usually either Stockley, Durl, and Verril. They were the worst of them, but there were some others that also acted negatively toward him.

Badrinn heard the three sniggering and yelled at them to get back to their sparring. The dwarf smacked Ethan's arm, which the boy had learned quickly was meant to be a gesture of goodwill.

"Don't worra about those immature brats. Ye just get back to work."

Ethan raised his crossbow up and positioned it the way Badrinn told him to. As he aimed and fired, he imagined the target as Stockley's face.

Physical training was not the only thing Ethan had to deal with. He had always struggled to read but had quickly caught up with his peers in the last year of hard studying. Not only did he read in Common, but he was starting to learn Dwarvish and Orcish.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, High Cleric Alphus would teach the trainees all about the Light. Ethan always attended, his arms full of notes and supplies. He needed to know as much as he could. Most of the other students had known about paladins and the Light since childhood. Ethan's history with the Light was scant. He had only heard about it a few months before deciding to become a paladin. But it had just seemed right for him to do. He had heard all about paladins and their great skills at fighting and healing. And he saw a few in action on the road to Hearthglen. At first he had only been going to the Plaguelands because his father had told him to go there, but after seeing a paladin a glow with bright light, he knew why he was sent there.

Ethan did not ever show his peers, but he had once been able to call on the Light. A splinter had pierced Stub's paw and the wound got infected. The young man had not wanted to bother any real paladins with the issue, so one night he got out all of his prayer books and attempted it himself. And it had worked. A faint glow appeared in his hands, less light than a candle might give off, but enough for Ethan to cure Stub's paw.

He did not call upon it again after that. Guilt had wracked him since because first year trainees were not supposed to attempt using the Light. It was supposed to keep the trainees from abusing the Light for selfish purposes. Ethan would never do that, but he was afraid of being tempted.

Sometimes he wondered if any other students had done it yet, but he was not close enough with anyone for that kind of conversation. No, only Stub was his constant companion. He would have been entirely alone if his father had not relented. If Snowfur, a mysterious white haired girl that smelled of snow, had not offered to give him Stub. Back when Ethan went by another name. Grendel.

___________  
A mouse scurried along the undergrowth of the forest. It sniffed for any scrap of food it could and looked out for any threats. It was dangerous being in such an open grove, with the pale moonlight streaming down. Close by was a raspberry bush that caught its attention and it made a beeline for those delicious red berries. It did not notice Sapphire sitting on a nearby branch. If it had looked up, she would have been obvious with her bright white plumage and large blue eyes.

Sapphire spread open her wings and launched off the branch. She tried her hardest to keep her flight smooth and silent, but an audible flapping caught the mouse's attention and it dove out of sight. With an angry flapping of her wings, she landed where the mouse had been and made an indignant hoot.

"You did not need to move your wings so much. The air will carry you. Trust it," A deep voice told her.

Bushes moved aside as a great hulking bear entered the clearing. He looked down at Sapphire with an ever stern expression.

Sapphire had not learned how to speak in animal form. Feathers disappeared and she got larger as she turned back into her own very human body. Sapphire pouted.

"I'm sorry, shan'do. Next time I will try better," She said sulkily.

The bear snorted. "Not try. Do better. This owl form seems to be your favorite. Is that right?"

Sapphire perked up and nodded vigorously. She could do two animal forms already but it was the snowy owl she preferred. The power of flying and being able to go just about anywhere is what drew her the most to it. She also had little fear of heights.

"Then you must learn how to be a proper owl," Cerelial demanded. When he first started to train her, months back, Sapphire had been scared of him. He never spoke softly and often lost his temper when she grew distracted. His harsh tactics did work though, because she overheard him once saying to his nephew Lethumo that she was becoming a decent druid. That was very high praise coming from him.

She supposed that was why other druids did not really like him. Lethumo's uncle was not fond of being indoors. Other druids avoided him and indeed the name of his kind of druid did not inspire much comfort. As a savagekin, Cerelial rarely interacted with other people and preferred to stay in his bear form at all times. Only twice had Sapphire seen him as a night elf and the differences between him and other druids was drastic. Even as a night elf, he looked very much like a bear. Thick fur covered his skin. His hands and feet were both clawed like a bear.

Cerelial turned his head to look to the east and snorted. "It will be dawn soon. Go on home."

Even as a bear, Cerelial was still a night elf at heart. Sapphire's classes took place mainly at night, which forced her to sleep most of the days. It was not that bad of an adjustment, but the first few weeks Sapphire had difficulty traversing the forest at night. Arms and legs were crisscrossed with tiny stinging cuts. By the end of each class, leaves and twigs would find themselves into her hair.

Sapphire started to collect her notes and reagents. Unlike her, Rot did not adjust to night learning. He lay passed out on one of her books. She picked up the undead dog and stuffed him into one of her long coat's pockets.

She headed back to Nighthaven. As a place mostly full of night elves, it was busy during the night and especially as dawn approached. Those who stayed up were about to head to bed, and those who had been sleeping were just starting the day. The house that Sapphire lived in with Lethumo, Kiefer, and her father wasn't very big but it was nice. A simple night elven home.

Rot jumped out of her pocket and ran straight into the house. The girl dumped her belongings on the grass out front. No one stole anything in Moonglade. Sapphire turned into an owl again and flew up to the second floor, which was very open and airy. Arthas despised that aspect of the house. Sapphire glided through to the back room, where Arthas sat at a table. She landed on the book he'd been reading.

Arthas reached up and scratched Sapphire's feathery head. She hooted appreciably. With that, she turned around and waddled over to the opposite chair and hopped down. Sapphire transformed back and laid her head on the table.

"I'm so tired..." She moaned. It was true. Cerelial had kept her busy all night with physical labor. From flying around attempting to catch mice, to learning how to defend herself, and having to spent tedious hours collecting rare ingredients from plants.

"I would be too if I spent all night hugging trees and conversing with squirrels," Arthas replied playfully.

Sapphire sat up and puffed out her chest. "I don't talk to squirrels! I terrorize them! I am the great owl of the night!"

One of the bedroom doors creaked open and out came Lethumo, still half asleep. He looked at the two humans.

"I saw her once setting out piles of acorns for them," He said sleepily.

Arthas looked over at her, smiling wryly. Sapphire huffed. "That was bait!"

"I believe you fully," Her father remarked sarcastically.

Sapphire folded her arms, suddenly distressed at the teasing. Her night had been long and she was tired. It seemed Arthas could sense that so he held his hands up to humor her.

"Fine, fine. Why don't you go to bed, great terror of the skies?"

The girl nodded, then held her arms out as he rose out of the chair. He rounded the table and proceeded to hoist her into his arms.

"One day you will be too big for me to do this," He grunted. Sapphire wrapped her arms around his neck. She doubted that. He was so big and tall meanwhile she was tiny. She tried to nestle her head against him but she nearly poked him with one of her antlers. While she remained small, her antlers had grown. They were nearly half a foot tall now, with two clear points on either antler.

Arthas took her to her room and dropped her onto it.

"Good night," He said before leaving. Sapphire hissed at him.

"No! You forgot. What am I to you?"

She saw his hand tighten on the doorknob, knuckles whitening with tension. He looked back at her.

"Seriously?"

Sapphire nodded eagerly, willing to stay up all day and annoy him until he said it. She grinned maliciously when he hung his head and sighed.

"Fine. Good night, my crown jewel. When you die, its going to be painful," He added that last sentence with a dark tone.

The girl did not care. She flung herself back onto the bed and cocooned herself into her blanket. Though the two of them still had problems, it had gotten better. Sapphire did not flinch as much when he came near her and he let her get away with little things. Like the nickname. Lethumo always called her little saber cub, and Kiefer always addressed her as princess, but Arthas had never assigned her any other moniker. To him, she was Sapphire. So she came up with crown jewel herself and forced him to use it. Sometimes he needed reminders however.


	2. Chapter 2

"Have you told the princess yet?"

When Keifer entered the room and asked that question, Arthas did not bother looking up from the letter he was penning. Both he and Kiefer had converted one of the spare bedrooms into a sort of laboratory and study. It seemed innocent enough. If anyone asked what the glassware and various reagents were for, Kiefer would have said they were just for his arthritis. Kiefer had a bad back as well, or at least pretended to. There had been no need for the lies yet.

"Sapphire is busy with her own studies. Let it be a surprise," Arthas said simply.

Kiefer nodded, as if that was the most reasonable answer, and returned to his own work. Deceiving Sapphire was easy, though Arthas did not enjoy it. She did not need to know anything about what he was doing. Or why Kiefer would disappear for weeks at a time. Rebuilding the Cult of the Damned would take time, especially when the only recruiter was the uncharismatic ratfaced Kiefer.

Neither Sapphire nor Lethumo knew what Arthas had been doing and he never strictly lied to them. Yes, he had been off to Felwood a few times and he had slaughtered a couple dozen demons there, and he also traveled to Winterspring and to the neutral city of Everlook. Isolated as it was, Everlook was one of the better places to meet discreetly and to send letters. He threw suspicion off himself by buying luxury goods from Everlook hawkers. Lethumo enjoyed rare wines and perfumes. Even Sapphire liked candies or smoked meat.

Keifer handed Arthas letters as well as planting several thick books on the clear section of the desk. "I have spoken with a few independent necromancers in the Plaguelands. They are skeptical of your survival naturally."

He was not surprised, but still irritated by it. He would not present himself to every skeptical cultist. If they did not believe, then they would eventually suffer the consequences. Arthas finished up the rest of his letters and sealed them. He would send them the next time he went to Everlook.

"Did you find the books I was looking for, Keifer?"

The cultist nodded and pointed to the books he had placed on the desk. "Everything I could get on the Drust and Drustvar, and the genealogy of the Proudmoore line. I marked pages for you."

Arthas picked up one of the books. It was old, dusty, and pages were obviously missing out of it. He flipped it open and turned to one of the marked pages. Before his and Sapphire's encounter with the Drust Gorak Tul and his lackey, Arthas had never once heard of the Drust but he could guess a few things. Their height and general body type led him to believe they were some subspecies of vrykul and Arthas had plenty of knowledge about them. Gorak Tul called Sapphire a Drust and even his descendant. A lie, most likely, but one that Arthas intended to pursue using that genealogy book.

House Proudmoore was the ruling house of Kul Tiras, of which Drustvar was a part. They were nobility, but never truly considered royalty. Sapphire likely knew nothing of House Proudmoore, let alone that she was technically one.

Arthas leaned back in his chair, uncomfortable with the memories that came over him.

Jaina. Even after all that he had been through, he could still remember her beautiful hair, those eyes as blue as the ocean, and the furrow in her brow when she was concentrating on a spell or reading a very enthralling book. One night of irresponsibility and a little too much wine, and nine months later Sapphire had been born. Not that Arthas knew that at the time. He did not learn of Sapphire until well after he wielded Frostmourne. And he could not have cared more upon learning about her. He never even cared enough to consider killing the baby.

Now, he was almost grateful that his headstrong captain, Marwyn, had been weak enough to become attached to Sapphire.

Unfortunately for Sapphire, Marwyn it seemed had been the first one who cared for her. Jaina had just abandoned Sapphire shortly after birth. Very uncharacteristic of her, but at the time, again, Arthas did not care. He cared now. Was it guilt? Shame? Fear? Arthas could only speculate. Nor did it really matter now. Jaina had given Sapphire up and now Arthas had her. And he was intent on keeping her.

After he was done reading and taking notes, he decided to go see Sapphire. Something in one of the books intrigued him so he decided to follow up on the theory. He had to go to the local vegetable vendor first. The girl was behind the house, in a rough garden. The garden beds were lined with rocks of varying sizes. Sapphire collected them whenever she was exploring Moonglade. A few Arthas had brought back from Winterspring. Sapphire had started it only a month ago so most of the garden lay barren. The few plants that did grow were still small and fragile. Sapphire looked up at her father's approach.

Sapphire was watering a few tiny peacebloom plants, but she stopped when she saw Arthas. She pointed over to one garden bed.

"Look, some of my rot berries are growing. Those tiny thorny plants."

Arthas glanced at where she was pointing and did see on some mounds that rot berries were growing.

"Usually rot berries prefer growing on top of fresh corpses," He noted. He continued to approach Sapphire, as casually as he could.

Sapphire grew a little fidgetty when Arthas got closer. "Yeah, well...I buried some dead squirrels under them."

As Arthas got closer, she seemed to grow uncomfortable so he quickly pointed at another one of her garden plots with one of his hands. For the most part he had kept both hands behind his back but now only one hand remained hidden.

"What's in that one?"

Sapphire stood up now, backing away instinctually from Arthas. She went over to the garden bed, keeping her enthusiasm up

"Those are panther mushrooms! They can cause convulsions, delusions, respiratory failure, coma and eventually death if the person ingests too much!"

Her skin was turning pale. For her entire childhood, Sapphire had been pale as snow due to lack of sunlight. While they had lived in Moonglade and even back in Stormwind, Sapphire's skin had tanned considerably so she no longer looked like a living corpse. Now she was starting to look more like she had as a child, only with a slighlty greenish tint. Her nose scrunched up a little like she was smelling something foul.

"I'm sorry...I don't feel good. I think I need to lay down," She said.

Arthas gave her a concerned look. "No need to apologize. Ask Keifer to make you some tea."

Sapphire headed back inside, making sure to give Arthas a wide berth. As soon as she went inside Arthas pulled out the cause of her discomfort. A simple, ordinary onion. Just in case, Arthas had cut it open so the pungent smell could reach Sapphire and it obviously worked. She never even got within twenty feet of him. Drusts were strong if Gorak Tul was anything to go by, but it seemed they had weaknesses that made them look pathetic. Nothing but a common vegetable caused Sapphire to practically flee from him.

_______  
After a nap and some hot mint tea that Keifer made, Sapphire felt better just in time for dinner. When he wasn't writing poetry, drinking, or looking for love, Lethumo had recently started learning how to cook. Mostly human cuisine, but he had started making his own people's food to Sapphire's delight. Night elves loved rice and Lethumo did not seem much different.

As Sapphire made her way to the kitchen, she could smell the frying of rice cakes. She rushed in.

"I want a rice cake," She demanded viciously.

Lethumo turned from his frying pan. "Could we say the magic word?"

"Now," Sapphire said, smiling sweetly.

The night elf picked up the tray of cooked cakes and held it out to her. Sapphire took one, which was still hot but not hot enough to burn her fingers. On the counter, a clay pot sat. Sapphire reached over and popped the lid off. At first it seemed like it was just some water, but then she saw some movement in it. She jerked back in surprise.

"Uh...what's in the jar?" She asked nervously.

"It is a surprise! Delivered all the way from the coast. I thought you might like these."

Lethumo finished up the rice cakes and pulled the jar away from her. He reached in and yanked out a tiny squirming mass. Sapphire stared at it in fasnication. A small round body with lots of wiggling arms.

"Fresh baby octopus! Little fiends of the deep ever dark abyss. Pairs well with rice cakes."

Arthas came into the house just in time to see the two of them. Lethumo held up the octopus.

"Look Arthas! I hope you like octopus!"

Sapphire curiously reached into the jar and tried to catch one of them. She got one and held it up in the air. It struggled furiously with her grip but it was so small that its fight was futile.

Before either man could do anything, Sapphire popped it into her mouth. The sensation of it squirming in her mouth was interesting, but Sapphire did not care for it. She immediately bit down on it, stopping all movement. Sapphire was surprised by the taste, like a combination of chicken and clam. She chewed it even as Arthas came forward.

"Sapphire no!"

Lethumo put one hand between Arthas and Sapphire. "No, no! It's fine. Most people eat these raw! I just happen to have a conscious and fry mine first."

Arthas raised his eyebrows and curled his lip up. Sapphire did not see what the big problem was. She had eaten cockroaches alive before. If she was perfectly honest, she preferred the cockroaches. Cockroaches were meatier and crunchy. The octopus was slimy and gooey, but edible.

She reached in for another but Arthas stopped her this time. Sapphire started to pout and protest, but Arthas was firm.

"Wait till dinner is ready. Keifer isn't even here yet," He said.

"Okay...Hey, can I come with you to Winterspring next time you go?" She asked, changing the subject. Arthas and Keifer would leave, sometimes separately, for either Winterspring or Felwood while Sapphire was stuck in Moonglade. Not that Moonglade was uninteresting or anything. There was so much stuff for Sapphire to explore and do, but still...Moonglade was temperate and warm. She had not seen even a single snowflake since leaving Northrend. Everywhere was either blistering hot, or infuriatingly comfortable.

Arthas did not look at her, instead grabbing one of the rice cakes from the tray.

"I will think about it. You have to ask all of your teachers for permission though. It takes a day to travel to and from Winterspring."

Sapphire laid her head on the counter and groaned. "Not Miss Lunabreeze? She always makes me talk to her in Darnassian. My Darnassian sucks."

Lethumo shook his head as he poured some cranberries into a bowl.

"It is important to know other languages," The night elf said, in perfect Darnassian.

Sapphire attempted to reply back in Darnassian. "But I am so tedious and tumble feather."

The night elf pursed his lips in order to stifle a laugh. Sapphire narrowed her eyes at him, but let it go. She was hungry and he was taking his time readying dinner. So, Sapphire decided to help. She hopped down away from the counter to set the table for three who would be eating, and four who would be drinking. Arthas and Lethumo drank wine while Keifer and Sapphire settled with fruit juice. Just before she finished putting all the forks and spoons down, Keifer finished whatever he was doing in the study that he and her father shared. He came out of the room, looking a little annoyed.

"Ah, Keifer! Dinner time," Lethumo said, pleased with himself. As soon as he sat the clay jar down on the table, Sapphire reached in for another octopus.


	3. Chapter 3

Rain doused Moonglade for three days. Even Cerelial sought shelter in their home. So lessons took place under the eaves of the house while it rained. Naturally this led Cerelial to teach Sapphire about water. How Azeroth was covered majorly in water. The oceans around continents, the snow and ice on mountains and the northern and southern ends of the planet, and even the clouds were all different forms of water.

Sapphire was fine with water...so long as she could see what lay below it. She did not trust even Lake Elune'ara that bordered Nighthaven. Other young druids enjoyed the lake. Some of them invited her to join them, but Sapphire always refused.

Eventually the rain stopped. The forest remained moist for a while though. Cerelial showed Sapphire spots in the forest where mushrooms would sprout after rain. He taught her which ones to eat, and which ones could kill her. The deadly mushrooms were nice presents for Keifer.

One day shortly after the storm, Sapphire heard a pitiful crying noise as she explored near the Shrine of Remulos, where Keeper Remulos resided. Sapphire had met the fascinating half deer, half night elf like keeper.

Sapphire went toward the distressing sound, climbing over rocks and trudging through dead leaves.

A tree limb fell sometime during the storm. It lay across the forest floor in splinters. The width was thicker than Sapphire and it could have killed a person if they were underneath it.

But something lay underneath it, crying and shrieking. Sapphire ran over to the tree limb and got down on all fours to look under it. Something alive was definitely under the tree limb. Sapphire grabbed the wood and attempted to lift it. Over a year of eating well, Sapphire was no longer as skinny as she had been when she left Icecrown. She was stronger as well, but she could not just lift the tree limb.

She gently let go and transformed into the other animal form she had mastered. There in the temperate forest, a white tundra bear stood in amongst the dead leaves. Sapphire bent down pressed her shoulder against the tree limb. She pushed up, heaving the tree limb.

The creature underneath the tree limb was all kinds of bright colors. It darted out from under the limb, but stopped as soon as it was clear. Sapphire let the wood collapse to the side.

Sapphire thought at first it was a giant butterfly that had been caught under the tree limb. Vibrant rainbow, membranous wings were spread out limply. But the animal moved then. It was like a lizard and butterfly had made a baby together. The lizard thing looked up at Sapphire with solid black eyes.

It then attempted to flee, jumping up in the air and flapping both wings. But it yipped in pain. One wing crumpled easily at the movement and it fell to the ground.

"Oh, did you break your wing?" Sapphire asked in concern.

She reached down to help the poor creature. It backed away in alarm, but she spoke soothingly to it.

"I'm a druid, little lizard friend! Let me help you."

The thing relaxed and let her take it in her arms. Sapphire knew a simple healing spell, but it would definitely not fix the poor thing's wings. So she made her way out of the forest. As soon as she reached the main road, Sapphire rushed up to Nighthaven and found a senior druid.

"Excuse me! This thingy hurt its wing!" She cried out to to tauren woman. She stopped what she was doing with some potted plants and looked at the sight before her. The tauren immediately took the animal from her.

You found a faerie dragon?" The druid asked incredulously.

Sapphire supposed it could be considered dragonlike, but she thought it looked more like a lizard. She nodded. The druid cradled the dragon and took it into her home. Sapphire stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. The woman came out briefly and gestured for Sapphire to come. The girl followed.

She thought that the druid might want to question her where she found the dragon. Instead, the druid healed the little dragon without saying a word to Sapphire. The dragon shivered on the kitchen table as the healing took place. Its little black eyes seemed to pierce Sapphire deeply inside her soul.

It cooed as its wing gently healed. Once the druid was done, the little faerie dragon did not hesitate to burst into the air. It zoomed all around the room, knocking over a few of the tauren's cooking ware. Sapphire and her both frantically tried to save the more fragile plates and cups. Finally the dragon stopped being so exuberant. It saw a bowl of fruit and dove toward it. Sapphire watched it devour the fruit.

The tauren placed her plateware on a polished counter. "Poor thing might have been stuck under than for days. You will want to make sure she eats enough."

Sapphire turned to look at the older druid in confusion. "Me? Why me?"

The faerie dragon dropped an apple and flung herself at Sapphire. She yelped as the tiny thing grabbed her hair and tugged it. The dragon then proceeded to climb onto her head and claw at it like she was attempting to nest. The tauren druid laughed hysterically.

"Oh, my dear. Faerie dragons are very intelligent and are known to get attached to druids who help them. Look at her. Clearly you are stuck with her now."

The faerie dragon tilted her neck until she was looking at Sapphire upside down. It flicked out its tongue and started to lick its own eyeball.

Arthas would hate the cute, colorful reptilian animal. Sapphire immediately fell in love. She pried the dragon off of her head and thanked the druid for helping. The tauren recommended to Sapphire that she inform her personal teacher about the faerie dragon. Sapphire promised she would and left the woman's house. Before she went off to tell Cerelial however, Sapphire immediately ran home.

She came into the house screaming. "Lethumo! Keifer! Arthas! I HAVE A DRAGON."

______  
"Hey Dogbreath!"

Ethan attempted to ignore the obvious bait. He stopped brushing the chestnut stallion and placed the brush on a stool. As a trainee, he and others were required to do many tasks for more experienced paladins. Clean armor, prepare bandages, deliver food, or even take care of the knight's mounts.

The horse he had been grooming was named Mirador. Ethan did not know who the owner was, but he thought the horse was pretty nice. He did not judge Ethan.

Stockley, Durl, and Verril entered the stables. Verril leaned against a support beam and folded his arms. He and Stockley were human, whereas Durl was an orc. The three of them should have been doing their own tasks, but he doubted that they followed that rule. They did not follow any other rules it seemed.

Ethan turned to the group and replied to them curtly. "Hello, Stockley. Durl. Verril. Have you three volunteered to work in the stables?"

Durl snorted derisively. "Oh yeah."

Stockley smiled that annoying smile he always had. His teeth were unnaturally white.

"We have always dreamed of shoveling horse shit," He said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Verril saw the bucket of feed that Ethan had set down before he started brushing the horse. The boy picked it up and proceeded to dump it onto the dirt floor. The bucket followed, hitting the ground with a thunk.

"Oops."

Ethan restrained a noise of irritation and went to retrieve the bucket. Naturally, Stockley wanted to make things worse for Ethan. He kicked the bucket to the other side of the stables.

With that, Ethan had enough and he snapped at them.

"This is not how paladins should behave," He said, trying to appeal to the boys' better nature.

"Neither is licking yourself," Stockley retorted.

"Or drinking out of a bowl with your tongue," Durl added.

Ethan had done both of those behaviors in his earlier days in Hearthglen, not knowing that was not normal. The teasing of everyone had quickly put an end to that. For the most part, everyone forgot about his strange early days. Stockley and his ilk unfortunately refused to forget. Ethan learned how to eat with utensils or drink out of a cup like a normal person. He stopped scratching himself behind the ear like a dog. It was uncomfortable, to stop acting like his normal self. In his heart, he was still a member of his pack, no matter how any cruel remarks made him feel.

It was only these bastards who continued to torment him.

Ethan tried to go retrieve his bucket, but Durl grabbed him and shoved him against the wall. Verrill snorted with laughter.

"Come on, puppy dog! Why don't you bite me or tuck your tail between your legs."

Verril grabbed Ethan by his hair. "Do you think he has a tail?"

"If he does, I'd love to chop it off."

Ethan shoved Verril off of him, causing the trio to get even more hostile, but he was saved by the approach of someone. The three boys immediately stood up straight. Stockley even turned paler than he already was. Ethan turned around to see who it was.

A grey haired man entered the stables in full armor. He was old, one of the oldest paladins Ethan had seen before but looked like he could fight Ethan and Stockley's group without breaking a sweat. Everything about this man gave Ethan a comforting feeling.

He looked at the four young man and Ethan saw an amused smile grow on the man's face.

"Good morning young paladins."

He looked at the trio. Not a single one of them looked like they had been working hard in the stable. Not a single strand of straw or horsehair on them. Meanwhile, Ethan looked like he had been rolling around in the stable. Horsehair clung to his plain shirt. Straw poked in and out of his dark thick hair.

Stockley bowed his head reverently. "Highlord Fordring! We were just-"

"-Just about to help our dear friend Ethan here!" Verril interjected. He yanked Ethan toward him and put a friendly arm around his shoulders. Ethan grimaced at the contact.

Highlord Fordring nodded, as if that was an acceptable answer. He gestured to the chestnut stallion Ethan had previously been brushing.

"While you three clean out the stalls, I will need your friend to help me saddle dear Mirador."

Verril released Ethan and he quickly went off to help Tirion Fordring. Tirion Fordring. Probably the greatest paladin as far as Ethan knew. He thought that the Highlord might be too important to saddle his own horse, but apparently not.

"Do you mind finishing these buckles. I'm afraid its too hard on my back to bend like that," Tirion Fordring said. Ethan gladly said yes sir and bent over to tighten the saddle straps underneath the horse's belly.

Ethan's heart pounded fiercely. The Highlord checked Ethan's work and did not seem to find any issue with it. The paladin then turned to Ethan, smiling warmly. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Surprisingly, his grip was strong and firm despite his age.

"Thank you, lad. I won't take up any of your time now. Mirador and I can leave without any help."

Ethan nodded silently. He really did not know how to respond to him. Only until after the Highlord left did Ethan curse himself. He stared at Fordring wide eyes like some dumb, moonstruck puppy.

Luckily for him, the embarrassment of the event faded quickly when the stablemaster came back to see Ethan standing there idly. The dwarf woman put both hands on her hips.

"What are ye doing standing there? Are ye some kind of tree? Turn out the far right stalls!"

Ethan recovered and sprinted off to complete his tasks.


	4. Chapter 4

An elven courier rushed into the main hall of Nighthaven. Arthas briefly glanced at the sudden movement, but he quickly turned his attention back to Cerelial. The druid was intent on explaining what he planned for Sapphire. She was progressing enough that he thought she was ready to enter the Emerald Dream for the first time. For most students, their parents lived elsewhere and merely received a letter to inform them, but Arthas was present. So Sapphire's teacher felt it was his duty to inform him of the process.

The Emerald Dream was a potentially dangerous place for those unfamiliar with it, which was why apprentices needed their teachers to guide them. Cerelial would take Sapphire to the barrow dens in the Moonglade. From there, both of them would drink a potion that open their minds to the Dream. A barrow den watcher would watch over their bodies while they slept.

"What is this potion made out of?" Arthas demanded. Ever since Sapphire had been drugged by that cultist, he had gone great lengths to keep her from drinking or eating anything from anyone but him or Lethumo. He did not even trust Keifer.

Unlike other druids, Cerelial was not easily intimidated by Arthas. Not a single strand of fur rose along the back of the savagekin, nor did he bare his teeth at the deathknight. "I can assure you nothing in the potion is hazardous to health. A nondruid can drink it. It would only make their own dreams more lucid the next time they slept."

If Cerelial was going to drink it, then Arthas supposed it would be safe for Sapphire. Both Cerelial and the den watcher would be taking care of Sapphire.

A couple of gasps across the room caused Arthas to turn his head. The head druids of Nighthaven were all crowded around the courier now. Every one of them looked deeply concerned.

Cerelial followed Arthas's view. He growled deep in his chest.

"Something is wrong."

Arthas nodded, and made his way toward the other druids. Cerelial followed. One of the chief druids sensed his and Cerelial's approach. His lip curled up briefly at the sight of Arthas but forced down his disdain.

"May I help you?" The druid asked gravely.

Cerelial took the lead.

"What news is there?" He asked.

Now the chief druids all looked down. The one who had spoken had sighed in resignation.

"The Horde has gathered and assaulted Northwatch Keep. It has fallen."

One of the other druids, a tauren, burst out angrily. "News has come through that they used dark shamans. Subjugated elementals to attack them!"

"So soon after the Cataclysm. Has he any sense?" Another druid snapped.

Another tauren stomped down a single hoof and snorted. "Complete disregard for nature!"

From what Arthas knew of Garrosh Hellscream, this kind of action did not sound out of line for him. Most orcs were stubborn and prideful, but none could compare to Garrosh Hellscream. When Arthas learned of Thrall putting Hellscream in charge? He thought he had misheard. How could Thrall be so short sighted to put such a hot head in charge?If Garrosh Hellscream had his way, the entire continent of Kalimdor would be red with blood as well as Horde Banners.

All that took him off guard was the solid strategy. This assault on Northwatch Keep seemed like just the beginning. It was a heavily fortified military base, close to Ogrimmar. Logically it was a sound move for the Horde to nullify any potential threats. Somewhere like the Moonglade was of no interest to him, at least until the rest of the continent was taken over. He would definitely go after the two main capitals of Darnassus and the Exodar, but he would be smart to take out other potential threats that could go to their aid. Feathermoon Stronghold was a strong contender as well as-

Theramore. It was closer to Northwatch than any other threats. If Garrosh had a single ounce of brain in that thick skull of his, he would attack Theramore.

Arthas turned to leave immediately, practically running out of the hall. The other druids did not seem to notice or care about his departure, but Cerelial lumbered after him.

"Whatever you are planning, you should take a moment to think," The druid warned carefully.

"The Horde will attack Theramore after this," Arthas responded coldly.

The savagekin tilted his head. "And why does this concern you?"

Arthas opened his mouth and was about to respond, but he immediately shut it again. Cerelial did not know who he really was. To the druid, Arthas was Andrew, random deathknight whose daughter was his student. Nothing more. If he told Cerelial about...Jaina, then the druid might be able to put things together for himself.

"Someone...close to me lives in Theramore," Arthas responded carefully.

"And how will you get there? If the Horde marches on Theramore, the roads will be impassable to a lone traveler, even a deathknight like yourself."

The druid was right. Arthas did not even have a horse to ride. Walking would take to long as well. At his lack of an answer, Cerelial turned into night elven form. The rugged elf gestured for him to return to the main hall. Cerelial said something in Darnassian and a younger druid came rushing forward with some paper, a quill and ink. Cerelial laid them down on a vacant table and started writing something.

"The flight masters here in Nighthaven have the best hippogryphs but usually only cater to druids. I've written you a pass that will let you have the fastest mount they have on hand."

Arthas took the note when it was dry. "You did not have to do that."

Cerelial shrugged. "I might avoid civilized company, but that doesn't mean I am without empathy."

_______  
It was going to be the best week Sapphire ever had in her short life.

Cerelial finally gave Sapphire exciting news just two weeks after she met her faerie dragon. He believed it was time for Sapphire to take her first venture into the Emerald Dream. She knew plenty about the Dream to be absolutely ecstatic. The Emerald Dream, a realm of pure nature permanently untouched by any living mortal. Druids could spend years asleep while traveling in the Emerald Dream and learning all its secrets.

They would not be entering the Dream physically however. No, they would be doing the simpler method. It was the Emerald Dream. So Sapphire was technically going to be going to sleep for her lesson that day.

Cerelial had been very blunt in telling her that for the first few tries, apprentices rarely ever entered the Dream. And even if she did manage it, he would not let her stay too long in the dream. He would enter the Dream for himself so he could watch over her. Unexperienced druids could easily get lost in the dream.

His warning did little to curb her excitement. The Emerald Dream was not the only thing she was looking forward to. Her birthday was that week too. She did not know if she would be turning thirteen or fourteen, but either way it did not matter. She was going to have a birthday! The best birthday she'd ever had if Lethumo's promises meant anything.

There would be cake, but not like the rice cakes Lethumo cooked. No, this would be some sort of sweet bread with something called frosting on it. It sounded cold, which Sapphire liked. She would even be getting more than one present. Even Keifer admitted that he had gotten her something.

Not only that...It would be the first birthday Arthas would be acknowledging. Even he planned on getting her something.

Sapphire was eating a meal before heading off to her normal classes. Something zoomed past her and she watched as Tanomoan viciously attacked the fruit bowl on the table. Rot came rushing in, barking furiously at the out of reach dragon.

When she had shown off the faerie dragon to Cerelial, he had been impressed. Druids believed faerie dragons were a sign of good luck. After teaching her the basics of taking care of one, he suggested Sapphire name her. So she named her Tanomoan. It sounded noble.

Tanomoan plopped down on her haunches and tore into the apple she had "killed." She looked down at the still barking dog on the ground. She devoured the apple till it was nothing but a ragged core. The dragon held out the core and let it drop to the floor. Rot snatched it up and rushed out with his prize.

"Bhrooo!" The faerie dragon squawked, then trained her beady little eyes on Sapphire's breakfast of rice porridge. Sapphire immediately wrapped an arm around the bowl.

"Mine! Go get your own porridge!" Sapphire said defensively.

The faerie dragon stuck her tongue out at Sapphire and flew off.

Just then the front door opened. Sapphire shoved the last bit of her porridge down and ran off to greet whoever it was. But Arthas brushed past her without even a word, practically lunging up the stairs two at a time. Positively baffled by his action, she hesitantly followed. The door to his room had been flung open. Noises came from within. Sapphire cautiously peered inside. Rather than the expected anger, Arthas showed off a kind of fervent urgency. He already had parts of his armor already on. Months ago he had managed to get himself a complete set of armor, though he had made it clear several times that it was of subpar quality.

Concerned, Sapphire cleared her throat. Arthas turned back to look at her.

"Sorry, Sapphire. I'm a little preoccupied."

Sapphire frowned, even more concerned now. "Are you okay? Why are you putting on your armor?"

He did not answer right away, struggling with the straps of the cuirass. Sapphire pushed his big hands away and did it herself. Once she finished, she started to help him with the rest.

"Thank you, crown jewel."

Sapphire looked up at her father and scowled. "Now will you tell me what's going on?"

He reached down and attempted to be comforting. "I...need to leave for a while."

Sapphire immediately pushed herself away from him, her mood taking a turn for the worse.

"What about my birthday?" She demanded.

Arthas, only half armored, knelt down and put both hands on her shoulders. "I should be back in time for your birthday! Besides, you would probably prefer me not to be there."

"Not true," She said defensively.

"So you would never wish on your cake that you never want to see me again?" He asked, smirking viciously.

"Oh, I can make a wish on a cake?"

Cakes were that powerful? She thought they were just sweet bread like Lethumo had described. She looked down briefly at the floor, then met her father's eyes again. She grabbed one of his wrists. "I wish you wouldn't go away!"

He gave her a stern look. "Doesn't work like that. Besides, Lethumo is going to make sure your day is so great, you won't even notice if I'm there or not."

Sapphire bared her teeth at him. She did not care. He had gotten her a present and everything. It would be the first birthday he would attend, but there was a chance he would not even be there. Unfortunately, she really did not know how to convince him. She did not even know why he was leaving, so there was no argument she could counter.

"Can you at least promise to be back as fast as you can?" She asked.

"Of course. I promise."

Sapphire narrowed her eyes and scrunched up her nose. "Promise on what?"

Arthas stood up and scoffed at her obvious manipulation. "You have me between a rock and a hard place! Fine, I promise if I don't do everything possible to come back quickly, may ghouls rip me apart limb from limb and feast on my organs while I watch them. Happy?"

The girl thought about it. Seemed like a mild punishment for breaking a promise. But she nodded anyway. With that agreement settled, Arthas aggressively picked her up. She protested fiercely but he just shoved her out of the room. Less than half an hour passed before he was down the stairs and leaving the house, with nothing more than a brief reiteration of his promise. It was only until he was gone did Sapphire realize she had forgotten to ask where he was going.


	5. Chapter 5

While hippogryphs were not his preferred mode of transport, Arthas could not deny that the beast that carried him was proving useful. The beast flew quickly from Moonglade, through Ashenvale, and finally through the Barrens. While hippogryphs could not soar as long as a gryphon might, the riding was smooth enough. Still, Arthas planned to exchange the flamboyantly colored animal for a gryphon as soon as he got to the Alliance outpost, Fort Triumph.

That plan soon proved to be impossible as the hippogryph crested over a hill. Only a couple of short walls and two scout towers, calling Triumph a "fort" was being incredibly generous. Calling it Triumph now was ironic, for the place now lay in ruins. Smoke still billowed from the now smoldering fires. One scout tower had still been under construction, though now its completion would not be happening.

Arthas signaled for the hippogryph to land despite the ruin. He might find a survivor at least. The animal landed where the flight master would have been. The gryphon nests were empty, but there was still water in the food through. The hippogryph gladly dunked its beak into the water.

While it rested, Arthas explored the ruins, casually stepping over corpses. Vultures scattered as he drew near. From what he could tell, they had only been dead for more than a day, but less than a week. The defenders probably thought they could defend against the Horde army, protect Theramore, and be hailed as heroes. Idiots. Not only did they die in vain, but it seemed that the Horde had been happy to take all the siege weapons the Fort was equipped with.

Arthas did not even bother checking the towers for anything. The Horde had cut the soldiers down to the last man. If anyone had survived, they would have fled already. Either back to Theramore, or to take their chances in the wilderness. Either way, no one was here. Arthas let the hippogryph catch itself a few prairie dogs to eat, then whistled for it. They needed to head straight for Theramore now.

What he was going to do once he got there, Arthas did not know. He preferred to not think about it.

The hippogryph took off and they left Fort Triumph behind. They headed east down into the boggy marshes of Dustwallow. The fetid stench of stagnant water and decay rose up in the air so even far above the trees, Arthas could smell it. The hippogryph glided over the trees easily and soon Theramore could be seen. The pale stone walls stood out against the dark swamp. A tall tower rose up in the middle of the city. Arthas could imagine Jaina sitting inside curled up in a chair with a book in her lap.

He could see the army that the Horde had amassed, but strangely enough it was too far from Theramore to attack, yet it looked like there was damage to the city. Was the Horde retreating? Arthas meant to turn the hippogryph around to survey the Horde's numbers, but he got distracted by a roar of a dragon. He looked up in surprise.

A blue dragon launched itself at a lone zeppelin, which seemed to be carrying something Arthas could not discern. Cannons went off at the dragon and though it tried to dodge them, one hit the dragon, grazing his wing and causing the dragon to fall out of the sky. Then whatever the zeppelin was carrying underneath its hull was released and started to fall.

All of this happened so fast, Arthas did not have time to react. And suddenly the whole world lit up in a blinding light. It sounded like the entire world had cracked in half like an egg. Both Arthas and the hippogryph were blinded and proceeded to drop out of the sky. Tree limbs snapped against them, and Arthas was flung from the saddle.

When Arthas awoke, it was to the shrieking of the hippogryph, far above him. As he opened his eyes, he realized he could see again. Arthas cautiously got to his feet and surveyed his surroundings.

They had landed in the swamp. At least he had not landed in the scummy, dark water, but on the spongy earth. He could not see the sky clearly from his vantage point will all the overgrown plants in the way. The hippogryph was stuck up in one of the trees. Arthas would have just left the thing to die if he did not need a way back to Moonglade. So he made the effort to climb the tree. Thick oozing moss covered the trunk and made climbing all that more difficult but eventually Arthas got up to the hippogryph.

Both the beast's harness and antlers were tangled up in the tree branches and vines. Arthas had to snap off branches and rip out the vines for what seemed like an hour before the animal could free itself the rest of the way. It squawked at the indignity of it all and seemed highly resentful of Arthas for bringing it to such a dismal location.

It only reluctantly let Arthas mount back up and slogged itself through mud and water to find a place to take off. Finally the trees opened up enough to allow flight. It had just started to turn to dusk when they had fell, but now based on the light, Arthas realized it was morning. Once they took off and Arthas had a chance to see what had happened, he was shocked by the sight that lay before him. Theramore had been slightly damaged during whatever fighting had happened previously, but it had remained rather intact. Jaina's tower had stood tall over all the buildings and walls previously.

Now, nothing but a glowing crater remained. What looked like lightning crackled through the sky and loud booms still echoed. It had been a mana bomb. That was obvious. As the hippogryph landed just outside the remains of Theramore, Arthas could feel the potent arcane magic still in the air. Parts of buildings floated in midair, along with bodies.

No one could have survived the blast. Arthas should have no desire to enter the city. The acrid smell of arcane magic fueled the hesitation. Mana bombs were powerful and he did not know what affects the lingering magics might have. Even from the distance he kept, the residue might be negatively affecting him. The hippogryph clearly did not want to stay either.

Arthas entered Theramore. Jaina might have left him to the ruin of one city, but that did not mean he was going to leave her in the ruin of her own.

Nothing remained untouched. Bodies lay everywhere, when they were not floating in the air. While some buildings still stood, they were missing pieces or look like they had been taken apart and then rebuilt by a child. Arthas knelt down to examine a corpse, but as soon as he touched it, the body disintegrated into violet dust.

If Jaina had not survived, Arthas might not even be able to touch her corpse. If she had been in the tower, there would be nothing left of her now. Disturbed, Arthas pushed those thoughts down and continued through the wreckage. Even the grass did not survive.

But finally, there was a sound of someone else. Arthas moved to hide behind an overturned wagon.

There she was. The last time he had seen her, she had invaded his private quarters in Icecrown Citadel. He had tried to kill her at the time. Her appearance drastically differed from then and now. Of her golden hair, only a strip of it remained. The rest of her hair now shone like snow in sunlight. Her eyes glowed pale violet. While she had survived the mana bomb, it had affected her just as much as it had everything else.

But she was still just as beautiful. Neither age nor stress seemed to have an affect on her. Sapphire would look like her mother in a few years.

Arthas restrained from going to Jaina immediately. She might still resent him from the whole trying to kill her event. So he watched as she went from body to body, clearly overwhelmed by her surroundings.

She knelt down next to the body of a young gnome woman. Her hand shook as she reached out. When her hand touched the body, it reacted like the body Arthas had touched. It crumbled into dust.

That broke Jaina. She screamed, breaking the silence of the city. Arthas had never heard her make a noise so raw and emotional as that. She desperately scooped up the violet dust as if she could just put the body back together through sheer will. Jaina had lost her entire city. She had prided herself on trying to make peace with the Horde and Alliance. Her dreams were now nothing but dust as well.

Before, Arthas would have gloated over her failure. Arthas still thought her woefully naïve for ever believing in peace, but now he just wanted to go to her and comfort her. He almost did, walking partially out of his hiding spot. But Jaina got to her feet and he retreated. She picked up a shard of mirror for some reason, staring at it for a long time. Then they were not alone. Over two dozen orcs came patrolling through the ruins. Jaina turned to face them. The head orc said something in thick common, but Arthas did not catch what he said at first. The orc then turned to the others.

"We get to kill Jaina Proudmoore," He said.

"Bring her head to Garrosh Hellscream!" Another called out sadistically.

To Arthas's surprise, Jaina was grinning. She dropped the mirror shard she had been looking at. And then she attacked. It seemed that she never needed defending from others. As in their youth, Jaina was perfectly capable of defending herself. She shot arcane magic at several of the orcs, then froze others' feet to the ground. With them unable to run, Jaina summoned up a ball of fire and flung it at them. As they caught fire, the orcs screamed in agony.

She did not stop there. She froze them, set them on fire, and blasted them with arcane magic. Two dozen went down to a dozen, then finally all but one remained alive. The one remaining tried to stand, but Jaina picked up the mirror and went over to the orc. Arthas was too far away to hear what she said, but he could see the rage in her eyes. With one quick thrust, Jaina stabbed the orc in the throat. Blood spurted out from the main vein and splattered across her face.

Jaina had mercilessly killed over two dozen orcs and stabbed one brutally in the throat. She did not even wipe the blood off her face. Arthas had to admit seeing her so coldly killing things made him feel things that he had not felt in a while. He had not even known he could feel that way anymore.

He had to come out some time. Atleast now Jaina had sated some inner bloodlust and spent much of her magic on the orcs. Arthas took a step, and his boot audibly crunched some broken glass.

Jaina whipped around and quickly a fireball flew in Arthas's direction, hitting the side of a house. Arthas starred at the blackened spot.

"Who is there? Come out, coward!"

Arthas immediately yanked his hood up over his head and obeyed her command. He saw magic start to coalesce in her hand as he came out of hiding, but he quickly put both hands up.

"Apologies for startling you, Lady Proudmoore," He said quickly.

She did not seem in a very forgiving mood. "Who are you and why are you here? Did you survive the bomb?"

Arthas shook his head. "No, I came here to help, but the bomb dropped before I could. As for who I am...You know me, Jaina."

The cloud of magic dimmed in her hand as she seemed to contemplate. She had to have recognized his voice, though it had been years since she had heard it properly. The last time she had heard it, it had been deepened with the presence of the Lich King. Before that...he had asked her come with her to Northrend. It seemed like centuries ago.

"Tell me who you are or-" She started to threaten, but Arthas decided it was safer for him to catch her off guard.

He removed his hood, letting his white hair fall loosely around his shoulders.

"It's been a while, Jaina."


	6. Chapter 6

"You are supposed to be dead."

"Technically, I am," Arthas replied rather casually. Jaina had not called him a murderer or set him on fire yet, so Arthas figured it was going well. All she could do was stare at him.

They both stood in Theramore. Or at least what remained of it. The whole city was practically humming with the residual arcane magic from the mana bomb. Nothing survived but Jaina it seemed. She was still in shock from the bombing it seemed. He must seem like an hallucination to her. Arthas would not blame her for that assumption.

"Jaina..." He started to say, only to realize he had nothing to say. There was nothing he could say. He had flown all this way only to find he did not know what to say to her.

The tears welling up in her eyes were enough. The blood on her face was already starting to dry. Tears and blood.

"Why are you here?" She whispered, voice edging to break. She still looked skeptical at his existence, but she had recovered enough to demand the reason to it.

Arthas took a deep breath. "I suppose I thought I could come swooping in and save you."

Now he realized what an idiot he was. He never thought things through before acting. Jaina never needed his help. She would have never even wanted it, even before Stratholme. Jaina would have been insulted at the idea.

Rather harshly, Jaina laughed in response. "Great job."

Her cold response took him off guard. Sarcasm was never in her vocabulary before. Normally he would have shot back a similar answer, but he restrained himself. Jaina could still set him on fire.

"I am...truly sorry, Jaina. I cannot imagine how you are feeling," Arthas said honestly.

"No, you cannot possibly. Can you even feel anything anymore?" She asked, spreading her arms out in amazement.

Arthas looked her directly in her eyes. "I believe I still love you."

That seemed to take her aback. The last time they met, she had probably given up all hope in him. Now here he was, admitting his love. If Arthas was honest himself, he did not know if what he was feeling was love towards her. But it was something.

However, he did not get the response he wanted. Instead of replying in kind, Jaina turned away. A sob escaped her lips.

"No, I can't do this! Not right now. You are nothing but a cruel hallucination. A remnant of this." She gestured to the ruins of Theramore.

Arthas looked around at the broken walls and dead bodies. Garrosh had certainly destroyed what he perceived as a threat. Nothing threatening remained. It reminded him of Stratholme. The rage and impotence he had felt. Surely Jaina was feeling similar. The desire for vengeance and violence. The dried blood on her face was evidence of that.

"Suppose I were a hallucination, it would just be another insult that Garrosh has inflicted on you. He obliterated your friends and annihilated your home. Right now he and the Horde are no doubt drinking and celebrating this massacre. What are you going to do about it?" Arthas demanded as he aggressively gestured to all the ruin and destruction. He needed to know if she felt like he had.

Jaina's gaze immediately turned to the crater. Without a word she strode off in determination. Arthas followed her curiously. Her heart was racing. There, sitting at the bottom of the crater, was what looked like a giant orb of delicate glass. It looked like a single touch would shatter it completely, but looks were deceiving. Jaina rushed down to the bottom and stood before the giant object. Arthas assumed this was what had caused all the destruction.

Jaina put one hand on the orb, then turned to face Arthas.

"Garrosh wants blood. He wants war. Then he shall have both!"

That sounded good to Arthas. He watched silently as Jaina performed a spell on the object and it faded out of existence. Jaina then turned to Arthas. Now that he had recovered from first seeing her, he saw that she was not doing well. Her white hair was wild and there were bags under her glowing eyes. She looked older than she should look. She leaned heavily on her staff for support.

No words were spoken between them but they both went toward each other simultaneously. Arthas wrapped his arms around her. She laid her head on his shoulder. The only noises was the still crackling of magic and the distant cries of gulls. Arthas would have liked for them to be like that for longer, but Jaina pulled away too quickly.

"I need to go to Stormwind. Varian needs to know what happened," She rubbed her eyes as if to wipe away tears, though she had shed none.

She was not wrong. No one else survived. Only she had. He supposed the Alliance needed to know of this development. He started to take a step back but she reached out and touched him gently.

"Will you come with me?" She asked hesitantly.

Arthas nodded and took her hand in his.

_________  
The cake was smaller than Sapphire had imagined and frosting was not actually made out of ice, but she was still impressed by it. It was rounded like a wheel of cheese. The so called frosting looked like snow, but apparently it was just sugar and other stuff. Apparently it was not even cold, though Lethumo refused to let her touch it. One of the druids had baked and decorated it with edible flowers. More icing had been colored blue and her name had been At the moment, Lethumo was putting tiny candles on top of it.

"I don't suppose you know how old she is, Keifer?" He asked the cultist. He seemed hesitant whether or not to add thirteen or fourteen candles.

Keifer gave him a sardonic look. "No birth certificate or records on any census, for obvious reasons. Just make it thirteen. Personally, I'd prefer to be younger than older."

The night elf shrugged and finished sticking the candles in the cake. Tanomoan swooped into the room, landing before the cake. She sniffed it curiously.

"No! Bad darter!" Lethumo admonished.

Tanomoan jumped back in alarm and mewed in dismay. She flung herself off the table and proceeded to hide herself among the brightly wrapped presents in the living room. Sapphire had gotten more than she expected. After learning of her existence through letters, Lethumo's parents had sent her presents and promised to attend her next birthday. Sapphire could not understand how two strangers would go out of their way to send her presents, but she was happy either way. One present came from Cerelial. Even Keifer admitted to getting her a present.

Like the cake, she was forbidden to touch them. Everyone needed to be there to watch her blow out the candles and rip open the packages. Cerelial would be showing up any minute. As for her father, Sapphire did not know. Keifer had become pretty evasive when she asked once.

It should not hurt. It never hurt before. All of Sapphire's previous birthdays never included Arthas. Marwyn would always do something nice for her. Falric would be less cruel. A few cultists were nice to her. But Arthas never even acknowledged her existence.

Still, she had wanted him anyway but he did not show up.

Cerelial came to the house shortly before dinner. Lethumo had made Sapphire's favorite, cranberry chicken with orzo. Both Lethumo and Keifer left to greet the druid. Sapphire snuck a spoonful of orzo when they left. She also managed to hand over biscuits to both Tanomoan and Rot. Just as she was about to go in for another biscuit, she heard a raised voice and sharp retorts of shushing.

She turned to where the adults were. They were now whispering. Sapphire scowled. They were trying to hide something from her. She made toward them as if to confront them, but Cerelial's hearing was acute. The three quieted before she could hear a single word.

"What's going on?" She asked, eyeing the three. Keifer looked the most upset, while Lethumo immediately put on an obviously fake smile.

"Nothing! Well, your father might be a bit...late," He said, but immediately put his hands under her arms and lifted her into his arms.

She was not able to get a word in before the elf continued. "But who needs him, am I right? More cake for you!"

Sapphire wanted to demand what they were keeping from her but Lethumo carried her into the dining room for dinner. Dinner was eerily quiet and went by fast. Then it was time for the cake. Keifer lit the candles himself. Tanomoan fluttered over to the cake, entranced by the tiny flames. The cultist proceeded to pick up Rot and place him on the table. The dog's tail wagged furiously. All thoughts of Arthas left Sapphire's mind.

"Before you can blow them out, we have to sing!" Lethumo said with enthusiasm.

Keifer and Cerelial immediately seemed hesitant. The bard scoffed at their moods.

"Fine. I will sing for her. You are both tone deaf anyway!"

With that, Lethumo cleared his throat and sang about birthdays and how many more she would have. Rot laid his head on the table and attempted to cover his single ear with his paws. Tanomoan stuck her tongue out in disdain. But Sapphire enjoyed Lethumo's singing. His voice was nice and smooth, unlike Cerelial's deep rumble of a voice or Keifer's flat voice.

As soon as the song ended, Keifer nodded at the cake. Sapphire thought of a wish. At first she was going to wish for Arthas to come back, but that seemed arbitrary. Of course he would come back. Instead, a sudden dark thought came to mind. She thought of the creature. It had no name, but from the others' description, it had been a kind of wiry wolf like beast with antlers and a skull of a face.

The others looked expectantly at her and she panicked. Before she could think, she decided to blow out the candles. Then she wished never to turn into that thing again, but she mentally despaired. Was she supposed to wish before blowing out the candles, during the event, or after?

But the others quickly cheered and clapped. Lethumo wrapped his arms around Sapphire and kissed her forehead.

"Happy Birthday, Sapphire!"

All negative emotions washed away. Sapphire hugged Lethumo back, feeling warm and happy. Keifer cut the cake for everyone, even Rot and Tanomoan. Cerelial turned back into his elf form in order to eat the cake. Sapphire's piece was bigger than everyone else's.

After the last forkful of cake, Lethumo shoved presents into Sapphire's waiting arms. Cerelial assured her she was allowed to rip open the brightly colored paper that wrapped each present. Confidently, she tore each one to pieces. Lethumo's parents had gotten her a stuffed night saber toy and a beautiful black owl feather.

Cerelial took the feather briefly from Sapphire. "Ah. Night elven children are given owl feathers on their first birthdays for good luck. Since this is the first birthday you are sharing with Lethumo, it should give you good luck as well."

Lethumo took the feather from his uncle and immediately tucked it in some of Sapphire's hair. "I can braid it into your hair later."

Sapphire felt very grateful for both the toy and feather. Now she had three toys in total. And the black feather stood out sharply against her white hair. Keifer's gift was a simple leatherbound book.

"You can write in it or press dried flowers into it like a tree hugger," Keifer casually suggested. He made a noise of protest when Sapphire hugged him for the gift. The next one came from Cerelial. A dreamcatcher made out of wood and silken string.

When Sapphire lifted up the dreamcatcher for inspection, Cerelial sat up. "You will want to bring that with you when we enter the barrow dens. They keep nightmares away."

At last it was Lethumo's turn. It was a big present, though he admitted it was not much. Sapphire ripped the paper up and opened the box.

Inside was a bunch of clothing, but not just any normal clothing. Sapphire pulled out the purple and green robes.

"Now you will look like a proper druid!" He said proudly. Sapphire immediately pulled the garment over her head and wriggled into it over her normal clothes. He had not only gotten her the robes, but fur lined gloves, and thick boats made of supple leather. All of them were decorated with leaves and animals of various kinds.

Cerelial did not seem to appreicate the gifts and gave Lethumo a very stern look.

"That was...kind of you, Lethumo," He said slowly.

Lethumo returned his uncle's look with a rather dark one of his own. "Yes. It was."

Sapphire did not really know what was going on with them, but she was too distracted by all of her gifts. Already she planned on taking all kinds of notes in her new book. She would have to give her night saber toy a name. Rot and Tanomoan occupied themselves by attacking what was left of the wrapping paper. As the girl pulled on her new gloves and admired them, a sudden thought came to her. She had one present left. Her father's gift, wrapped in simple blue paper, sat alone on the floor.

Keifer noticed her gaze and cleared his throat.

"Perhaps Andrew will want to see you open it himself? You can always wait," He suggested rather kindly. Sapphire nodded, subdued at the thought.

Though Cerelial and Lethumo seemed tense, they both spoke to each other amicably as the elder started to leave. Sapphire thanked him for the dreamcatcher. Once Cerelial left, Lethumo seemed less tense. Sapphire stood at the entrance way, holding her new night saber plush and Rot in her arms. The night elf looked down at her.

"Well, you want to stay up a little longer? It is your birthday?"

Sapphire shook her head. As if to emphasize, she started to yawn. Lethumo took one of her hands and led her to her room.

"Why did my shan'do look at you like that?" She asked sleepily.

Lethumo brushed aside her concerns with a dismissive wave. "Oh, something about traditions and what not. Don't let it bother you."

Once she got to the door of her room, Lethumo let go of her hand. She expected him to just say good night and leave. Instead, He laid his hand on top of her head right between her antlers.

"You're a good kid, you know that?" He asked.

Sapphire tilted her head, thinking about it. She really did not have much experience to know if she was good or not, but he seemed to think so. So she merely nodded. With that, Lethumo said good night and left her.


	7. Chapter 7

Today was the day. Sapphire stood before the barrow dens in her full vestments of an novice druid, ready to enter the Emerald Dream. Rot lay curled up in her pocket and Tanomoan sat on her shoulder. She had wanted her father to take her to the barrow dens, but he still had not shown up. Lethumo offered to take her, but one dark look from Cerelial squashed that idea. And when Sapphire had glanced at Kiefer, he immediately replied that he was busy. But Rot could not verbally protest and Tanomoan seemed interested so they were her escort.

Cerelial stood at the entrance in his bear form as usual. As she came over to him, he gave her a rather stern expression.

"Do you have your dreamcatcher?"

"Yes, sir!" Sapphire replied, holding it up proudly.

"Do I need to refresh you on how to empty your mind and reach out to nature?"

Sapphire immediately shook her head. She knew what she had to do. He had given her books and scrolls to study about the Emerald Dream before. She had ready all she could and knew how to meditate.

"This is no fun frolic in the woods. The Emerald dream is a serious matter."

To that, Tanomoan stuck her tongue out at him. Cerelial snarled back in response. Tanomoan yipped and hid herself in the hood of Sapphire's new robe.

"To druids, The Emerald Dream is a serious matter. You are leaving your body behind and traversing the ethereal Dream of Creation. It greatly can enhance one's own connection to life and nature, but it is not without its dangers! Furthermore...Yes, Sapphire?"

Cerelial had been about to go into a long lecture so before he could really get into the spirit of it all, Sapphire had to raise her hand.

"Since I am leaving my body...Should I pee before entering the Dream?" She asked, with all the seriousness that she could muster.

Cerelial stared at her in disbelief. "Do you need to?"

Sapphire hesitated, then shook her head. Her teacher raised one paw to cover his face in frustration, then let it slide down his face.

"Yes, you should always relieve yourself before entering the Dream for extended periods of time. But we are only going in to give you a brief experience. Any pertinent questions?"

After she replied that she did not have any more questions, Cerelial lead her into the barrow dens. They were deep tunnels that dug into the earth. Roots of trees curled around walls and sometimes spilled over the pathway. Sapphire gingerly stepped over each root, not wanting to hurt the tree's feelings. Since they were not going into the deep, practically comatose state that some druids do when entering the Dream, they were only going to sleep in the more open alcoves of the den. One of the den watchers came up to Cerelial, clearly too friendly to be couped up underground.

"Hello, Druid Cerelial! And Novice Sapphire! I am Tesli, your resident den watcher!" The woman exclaimed cheerfully. In Sapphire's hood, Tanomoan hissed in disgust at the high pitched voice.

Cerelial had to restrain himself, clearly. "I sent word of our coming."

"Oh yes and I prepared two mats for you! Is this your first time entering the Dream?" Tesli asked Sapphire, leaning in far too close in the girl's personal space.

Sapphire only nodded, clearly uncomfortable. Tesli immediately grabbed Sapphire's hand and pulled her to the alcove.

"Oh you are going to find it so much fun! There are butterflies and deer, and is that a little darter?" Tesli squealed and yanked Tanomoan out of Sapphire's hood. The faerie dragon yowled in outrage. Even worse, Tesli proceeded to hug Tanomoan, almost causing the poor thing's eyes to bulge out from the sheer force of the hug.

"You have your own darter! You are so lucky!"

"Thank you...Can you let her breathe a little now?" Sapphire asked cautiously. Tesli stopped hugging Tanomoan. The dragon blinked out of the woman's arms and appeared back over Sapphire's shoulder, clearly affronted by the night elf's audacity.

Not at all offended herself, Tesli proceeded to review to Sapphire how the whole process worked. More experienced druids needed no help in entering the Dream and could do it easily. But since it was Sapphire's first time, she would be drinking a potion that would help broaden her senses. It would also help her go to sleep easier.

Tesli handed Sapphire the cup that had the potion in it.

"I hope you like it. I put some honey in it to sweeten it."

Sapphire wondering how much of the potion Tesli drank on a regular basis and worried about its side effects. But Cerelial did not say anything, so she took it over to the soft mat provided to her and sat down with the cup. As soon as Sapphire drank some, she appreciated the honey. It was not very pleasant. Like a liquid version of a salad.

Cerelial came over to her. "I will be right over there. Telsi can help you if you are having trouble entering."

With that, he went over to his own mat and laid down with an audible thump. Sapphire would have preferred to sleep next to him. She could have used his paw as a pillow or something. But she just laid down on the mat and looked up at the earthen ceiling. Telsi sat cross legged between them. Tanomoan crawled onto Sapphire's chest and sat on her haunches, staring right at Sapphire with her dark eyes.

Sapphire scowled, then closed her eyes. She breathed steadily like she had been taught. She could feel life around her, despite being underground. The roots slowly and imperceivably growing. Worms squirming through holes. Even mammals like moles dug their way through the earth, searching for bugs to eat. Despite all this connection, she did not feel the pull of the Dream. In fact, she did not even any kind of drowsiness. But she lay there for a long while, willing herself to enter the Dream just as Cerelial had taught her. The feel of life around her slowly faded away. Even the feeling of the mat beneath her disingrated.

All of a sudden, Tanomoan squealed out in fear. She leaped off of Sapphire's chest, which annoyed her extremely. Tanomoan had broken her concentration. Rot started to rustle in her pocket. She felt his head poke out and he started to bark. Bringing the two of them had been a mistake.

"Tesli, I think I need some help."

The woman did not respond to her. Sapphire opened her eyes, confused. The confusion worsened when she was met with the view of not earthen roof, but of blackened tree limbs and a dark grey sky. Sapphire immediately sat up, excited. She was in the Dream!

Only there was no green tint like she expected. No Cerelial to greet her. She was not transparent either. The tree limbs she had seen belong to trees, equally as dark as their limbs. The ground was a sickly brown color. There were no flowers or cute little rabbits. No green dragons. Sapphire slowly got to her feet, feeling light headed. Tanomoan was circling around her. Panic shown in her eyes. Rot's hackles were raised as he looked around the dark forest in fear. That made no sense. Tanomoan could enter the Dream, but Rot definitely would not have been able to.

Sapphire was not sleeping and she was definitely not in Moonglade anymore. Wherever they were, it was not the Emerald Dream.

________  
Cooling his heels just outside Stormwind had not been on Arthas's mind when he agreed to follow Jaina. Unfortunately for him, her logic had been sound. Bad enough that Varian thought her as dead as everyone else did. Now here she shows up with glowing eyes, white hair, and blood covering her. Their old friend would be shocked enough by her own appearance. If Arthas were to show up, that would just add fuel to the fire. Arthas did not fancy a sword in his gut, so he stayed outside to wait.

It was morning so the city was just starting to stir to life. All the guards were alert despite the early hour. Every guard Arthas saw walk past him was walking straight with bright eyes. They all knew what had happened to Theramore and were being extra cautious. Very few citizens were out and about, but those that were looked concerned. The smell of bread baking wafted through the air.

It was only then did Arthas realize that Jaina had probably not eaten since Theramore had been bombed. Whatever outcome meeting with Varian might acheive, she would still need something to eat. He went off to the closest bakery and bought her half a dozen muffins and a hot cup of tea.

As he left the bakery, a mother and young daughter entered the bakery. The little girl looked briefly at Arthas with bright blue eyes. That was when it hit him. Sapphire's birthday had been yesterday. He had forgotten about Sapphire completely as soon as he had seen Jaina. For a year he had been trying to keep her safe, but as soon as he had thought of Jaina, it was like Sapphire did not even exist anymore. Some father he turned out to be.

He ought to go and tell Jaina immediately about their daughter. But for a purely selfish reason, he did not want to. If he told Jaina about Sapphire now, it might snap her out of her grief and anger. No, he needed Jaina to cripple the Horde and fulfill her revenge. So when Jaina stomped out of the Keep a few minutes later, Arthas said nothing about Sapphire.

"Varian has become weak. He is a coward. Said he wanted to fight the Horde on his 'own terms.'" Jaina snapped angrily. Arthas took out a muffin from the box and held it out to her as well as her tea.

Jaina looked down at the cup and muffin, then back at him. Without even a thanks, she took the offered breakfast. While Jaina ignored the tea to let it cool down, she voraciously ate the muffin.

"What will you do now?" Arthas asked, taking out a muffin himself. He did not need to eat but sometimes it was nice and the muffins were blueberry.

"I...I don't know why, but Rhonin sacrificed himself for me. Called me the future of the Kirin Tor. I suppose the next step is to go to Dalaran. Perhaps the Kirin Tor will listen to reason."

It was a farfetched idea, but Arthas would not say a word against it. If Varian would not help her, if the Kirin Tor did not help her...Who else could she turn to but Arthas? He would be more than happy to raze a few cities for her. But he needed her to be desperate before she would turn to him. And there was the broken promise he needed to atone for.

Arthas approached Jaina and took her hand in his own. "Of course you should go to Dalaran. However, I need to go do something important. Important for the both of us."

"And what would be so important then? A plague or army of corpse?" Each word was sharp like a knife. Jaina was naturally suspicious of him.

"No plague, no army, nothing of that nature. I'm not the Lich King anymore. It's...just me, Jaina."

At least for the moment. Still, she did not seem very convinced. She had not revealed his survival to Varian however and there were no guards at the moment rushing to arrest or kill him, so her feelings for him were strong enough that she probably felt he was redeemable to some fashion.

"Where will you be going?" She asked.

"Moonglade," He responded, and immediately continued after seeing her raise her eyebrows at such an unlikely location, "Yes, I know. Probably the last place you would ever find me going to. After you are done, will you come to me in Moonglade?"

He saw Jaina gently bite her own lip as she always did when she was hesitating to answer something. It took her a moment to respond.

"Fine. I will come see you. Do you need a portal?"

That was easier than he had thought. It would definitely save him plenty of time. Arthas nodded. "That would be helpful."

Jaina took him to a clear area in the Keep and proceeded to raise her arms. He saw her hands shaking. She was more exhausted than he thought. He wished he had not agreed, but it was too late for him to protest. She was already bringing up the portal. The air before them shimmered and a blurry vision of Moonglade's lakeshore appeared in front of him.

The two of them looked at each other briefly. Then Arthas could not help himself. He reached out to wrap his arm around Jaina's waist. He pulled her toward him. She already knew what was happening and both of them leaned forward, pressing their lips together. They kissed passionately. That moment could have lasted forever if Arthas had his way. Despite that, it was him who pulled away first.

"Come see me. Please," He said huskily.

Already Jaina was backing away from him, and he could see her sudden regret. Rather than wait for an answer, Arthas forced himself to enter the portal. He dreaded what the answer would have been if he had stayed any longer.

Now he stood in Moonglade and it seemed like he had not even left. He looked up at Nighthaven. Now he regretted not asking for Jaina to put him in the town itself. It would have saved him a long hike, but he supposed it was a mild retribution. Arthas walked all the way up to Nighthaven. He then stopped at the small market in the center. He bought the largest jar of honey he could find as well as some oranges.

He carried his apologetic gifts to their home. He half expected Sapphire to come running out of the home and yelling furiously at him. Or just forgetting her irritation and hugging him. Neither happened. A druid, a stranger to Arthas, came out of the house with a concerned expression on his face. He quickly turned into a saber and sprinted off. That did not bode well.

Arthas entered the home, finding the main hallway empty. Even more concerned now, he went into the main living room. Kiefer was pacing in the corner of the room and did not notice Arthas's entrance. Lethumo sat curled up on the sofa, face covered up by his hands. His body shook slightly, and it was only when he looked up did Arthas realize he had been sobbing. Tears streamed down the elf's face.

"Arthas!"

Kiefer stopped pacing immediately. He looked at Arthas with a look of terror. Arthas's arms, full of gifts, slowly lowered. The oranges slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor, rolling away. The jar cracked as soon as it hit the floor. Honey oozed onto the wood.

"Where is she?"


	8. Chapter 8

When you are lost, staying in one location was the best chance of getting rescued. Cerelial had taught Sapphire that. But what if the rescuers had no idea where you were? If they had no way of reaching you? What then? Sapphire knew she was not in the Emerald Dream and it was just dawning on her where she might be. The dark trees and the deep fog were similar to how Thros had seemed.

Thros was the domain of Gorak Tul, Sapphire's great grandfather. If either he or his Huntsman found her, she would be worse than dead. Sapphire was defenseless, but atleast she wasn't alone. Tanomoan and Rot stood by her.

Sapphire needed to think. How could she get home? Gorak Tul could manipulate Thros however he wanted. So could Adalger. All Sapphire could do is turn into animals. And then it hit her. She could fly! So could Tanomoan. Rot was small enough that perhaps either Sapphire or Tanomoan could carry him. The only way out of Thros that Sapphire knew was that really ugly tree with the door in it. It should be easy to spot from the air.

So she explained to Tanomoan and Rot her plan. Neither of them seemed to understand. Sapphire transformed into her fluffy owl form. She then grabbed Rot by the scruff of his neck. He yelped indignantly when she took off flying. Sapphire could hear Tanomoan flying after them.

The trio ascended over the tree line and from there the outlook was bleak. Sapphire could see nothing but fog and trees, but that did not stop her from trying. She flew straight through the fog without hesitation, but after what seemed like hours, nothing seemed to change. When Tanomoan chirped meekly behind her, Sapphire swooped down through the tree limbs and back to the ground. Tanomoan landed behind her, clearly exhausted.

Nothing looked different for the most part. The trees were just as dark and twisted. The fog obscured the view past a few trees. The ground was bare and a sickly brown color. A skeleton lay half imbedded into the ground. One desiccated hand reached toward the sky. When she got closer to it, it was revealed to be of a human skeleton.

Sapphire immediately collapsed to the ground and tried not to cry. Rot examined the skeleton curiously. He sniffed it for a moment, then started to dig around it. Sapphire did not feel like stopping him. Rot dug for a few minutes, till he seemed to find something. He attempted to pull it out with his mouth, but it was too heavy for him. Rot barked at Sapphire. The girl sniffled, then went over to help him. She scraped the dirt away.

It was a book. After a few brushes of her hand, the dirt came off more of it. It was leather-bound and though the pages were filthy, none of them looked degraded. It was locked by a thick metal clasp on the side. Sapphire undid the clasp and opened the book.

The words on the pages looked to be vrykul in nature, but Sapphire couldn't understand a word of it. The illustrations gave her a better idea of what the book was about. There were drawings of plants and animals in one section, and in another gory anatomy of what looked like vrykul but Sapphire knew were Drusts. She immediately closed the book.

"Interesting, but not very useful. Thanks anyway, Rot."

The dog huffed in frustration.

Suddenly, there was a howl in the distance. Sapphire stood up in alarm. It sounded similar to one of the Huntsman's beasts. She could not stay in one spot for long, lest they find her. She thought about leaving the book, but decided it would be better to bring it. It could be useful, if there is a way to read it.

Tanomoan looked up wearily as Sapphire stood up. The girl picked up Rot and the little darter.

"It's okay. We can walk until you are rested," Sapphire said.

She carried both of them for a while, walking straight for what seemed a mile. To her ultimate dismay, this journey ended right back to the skeleton. Sapphire dropped both Tanomoan and Rot. Finally she broke down and started to cry. She did not know how to get out of Thros and no one even knew she where she was. Gorak Tul was going to find her and-

"Do I hear someone crying?"

Sapphire whipped around toward the sound of the voice. She could not see anyone through the fog, but it had definitely been a voice. She stood up slowly and straigtened her back. The tears stopped running.

"Who are you?" She demanded, though her voice quivered slightly.

A figure came out of the forest and she restrained the urge to scream. At first she thought it was Gorak Tul, but when he came closer she could see the obvious differences. This Drust was a lot shorter and thinner than Gorak Tul. He still had the unnatural wooden growths all over his body and dark blue magic glowed from his eyes. Sapphire took a step backwards. The Drust tilted his head.

"Curious! You are afraid of me and I of you."

"Why are you afraid of me?" Sapphire scowled in suspicion.

The Drust then sniffed toward her. "You reek of darkness and decay. Why are you here, little Drustling?"

Sapphire did not trust him. For all she knew, he was a scout of Gorak Tul's and even now the Huntsman could be bearing down on them. Atleast she would not have to deal with the puzzling woods anymore.

"I'm lost," She admitted.

Another distant howl broke up their conversation. The Drust turned briefly to look toward the noise, then he looked back at Sapphire. She could see fear in his demeanor. He rushed at her and grabbed her hand.

"Come, we must flee!"

Bewildered at the response, she could not break away from the man's grip and had to follow him. Rot and Tanomoan fled alongside them.

"Where are we-"

"Shhhh! The wicker beasts have good hearing!" He snapped at her. The Drust directed her to a ravine and shoved her under a tangle of roots and thorns before crawling in behind her. The beasts rushed into the air soon after. They snarled loudly as they explored the area. One of the wicker beasts got very close to the undergrowth the group were hiding under, but it did not sense anything out of the ordinary. There was deep thundering noise farther away. All beasts turned their heads toward it and rushed back the way they had came, leaving only silence. After a few minutes, the Drust relaxed slightly.

"Who are you?" She now demanded of the Drust.

He looked down at her. Despite being smaller than Gorak Tul, he was at least eight feet tall. Sapphire barely topped over four feet. He could kill her easily but he seemed...submissive. Hunched back and did not meet her gaze directly but was looking to the side of her.

"I am Bolfr. You said you are lost?"

Sapphire nodded. "My name is Sapphire. Can you help me leave Thros?" At he grew alarmed.

"Out of Thros? Oh no! I cannot leave Thros."

Now Sapphire pitied him of a sort. He seemed if not an enemy, atleast unfriendly with the Huntsman, but he was stuck in Thros. After a few prodding questions, her suspicions were confirmed. Bolfr was not friendly at all with Gorak Tul, but all dead Drusts souls were trapped within Thros and could never leave except with outside help. That was how Adalger, and Sapphire supposed herself, could leave. They were not dead yet.

Bolfr looked down, then spied the book she had found. "What is that!"

Sapphire pulled it out and handed it to him. He gasped. "A grimoire! Where did you get it?"

Rot growled in response, which caught the Drust's attention. Sapphire held up the dog.

"Rot found it."

Bolfr did not respond. He was too busy opening the book and flicking through the pages. Sapphire could see him focusing on one page in particular, which had a crude drawing of one of the antlered wooden men that she had seen before with Gorak Tul and Adalger. The Drust pressed his hand against that page and sighed.

"I...I know someone who can help you. But would you do me a favor?"

Sapphire nodded eagerly. She would do practically anything for him if only he would get her out of Thros. Bolfr flipped the book around and pointed at the page with the grotesque drawing.

"Can you read this?"

Sapphire shook her head, then added. "I only know a little of vrkul runes."

Bolfr looked distressed, but pursued his line of questioning. "If you learn more, do you think you could preform this ritual?"

Sapphire stared at the pages and then shrugged. With that Bolfr shoved the book back into her arms.

"If I get you out of Thros, perhaps you could get me out too. Make me a body of wicker and bone and summon my soul."

He sounded desperate, though Sapphire could definitely understand his reasonings. She would not want to be trapped forever in a realm of decay and fog. But she was not sure if she could help him.

"I could try at least," She admitted. Bolfr's eyes brightened and he grabbed her shoulder with his giant hands. He bent down and pressed his wooden forehead against her own.

"Thank you! Thank you, Ingra Sapphire! Come, I will help you!"

He then crawled out of the root tangle without a moment's hesitation. Sapphire followed after him, with both Tanomoan and Rot in her arms again. Bolfr's attitude seemed to change instantly. He stood a little straighter now. He guided her through the forest, which seemed to respond to him differently than it did to Sapphire.

"You do not use the magic of Thros, so you get lost easily. Learn to read the grimoire, then Thros will respond," Bolfr responded when she asked him how he did not get lost. The flat forest started to rise uphill. The trees were still dark and foreboding, but now there were leaves and the fog did not seem so oppressive. Smaller plants started appearing. Hungry, dirty and exhausted, Sapphire did not even question it when Bolfr suggested they stop. She slumped down next to a rock.

"Who can get me out of Thros? Is it Greenstalker?" Sapphire asked, referring to the skulled wolf who had aided her before.

Bolfr shook his head. "No, the Horseman is a creature of darkness and evil. Drusts fear him almost as much as the Huntsman, but I know better. He is not a threat unless you anger him. He can enter or leave Thros whenever he wants. Perhaps he might be willing to bargain."

That sounded like a horrible plan. At least it was better than wandering around Thros in circles.

Bolfr peered around the area. It did not look much different to Sapphire, but obviously Bolfr liked something about it. He nodded with a grunt. "I believe I can call him here. We should be far enough way that if we do draw attention, the Huntsman won't be able to reach in time."

With that Bolfr started creating a circle of magic around him. He clawed into the dark earth strange runes. Sapphire jumped when all of a sudden Bolfr raised his arms up and dark blue magic streamed out of the runes. Rot attempted to get close but she snatched him away and held both him and Tanomoan tightly against her chest.

" _Salanar the Horseman! I summon you _."__

__A cold shiver ran down Sapphire's spine. Bolfr had not mentioned his name before now. And Sapphire had heard of that name before. He would be no friend of hers. Before she could even flee however, the fog broke and a horse came galloping right toward her. Sapphire instinctively dropped to the ground and cowered. The horse, a giant brute with a dark mane and eyes that glowed afire, stopped abruptly before her. Sapphire looked up and past the gnashing mouth of the horse and to the rider sitting behind._ _

__It was a deathknight adorned in dark tarnished armor with a torn cloak the color of blood wrapped around him. He gazed down at the sight before him with eyes that burned green._ _

__"My, my. It has been awhile, Sapphire Menethil. How you have grown."_ _

__Sapphire stared at him. "We've met before?"_ _

__The deathknight dismounted and Sapphire retreated behind Bolfr for protection. Salanar did not react._ _

__"Why of course. Who do you think was the one who found you as a baby?"_ _

__He had to be lying. Marwyn and Falric had found her as a baby in Kul Tiras and brought her to Icecrown. She snapped that information back in response. Salanar folded his arms._ _

__"Well, of course they had to change the story. How could a traitor like me have been the one to obtain you?" He responded coolly._ _

__Sapphire bit her lip, not having a good response for that. She tried to think back when Marwyn had told her and could not remember if it had been before the Knights of Acherus had rebelled or after. Her childhood memories blurred together at times._ _

__Baying howls exploded from nearby, causing Bolfr to yelp from surprise._ _

__"They are closer than I thought!" He cried out, then turned to Salanar. "Ingra Sapphire needs help leaving Thros. Can you help her, Horseman?"_ _

__Salanar did not immediately answer. He would want something in return, Sapphire knew. He was a traitorous deathknight, but Salanar nodded slowly. It was too late however._ _

__A wicker hound leapt out of the fog and attacked. Bolfr grabbed the beast and flung it away. It collided with a tree with an sickening crunch. More beasts came. Salanar took out his massive axe and cut one of them in two._ _

__"I suggest you mount on Dark Step quickly," He told Sapphire again with that cool, level tone. Sapphire did not need to be told twice. She went toward the horse and started to mount._ _

__Something whistled through the air and suddenly there was burning hot pain in Sapphire's arm. She collapsed to the ground. An arrow now stuck out of her upper arm. She weakly looked in the direction where it came from. Adalger sat on his skeletal stag with a sadistic grin on his face and a bow in his hands. Rot snarled at the sight of the man. Tanomoan hissed._ _

__Bolfr killed another beast and came over to her. He easily picked her up and placed her on the saddle._ _

__"Horseman!" The Drust called out._ _

__Salanar then summoned up a dark cloud of magic that obscured everything. Beasts howled in rage and the thudding of hooves meant Adalger was coming up. Sapphire could hear him cursing her name. The Horseman ran over and quickly mounted his horse behind Sapphire._ _

__"Later, You simply must tell me how you drew that one's ire," He said to Sapphire._ _

__Bolfr took Sapphire's hand quickly. "Remember your promise!"_ _

__Sapphire nodded. Luckily the book was still in her possession. She did not know how but she would try her best to help Bolfr._ _

__"Go Dark Step," Salanar said gently. His horse spurred forward and left Bolfr and Thros behind._ _


	9. Chapter 9

It had been two weeks. Two weeks without word or a single trace of Sapphire. The pathetic den watcher had been in hysterics when Arthas came to interrogate her. Apparently she had never lost a druid before. Arthas could not even bring himself to kill her. Cerelial had assured him that they would find Sapphire, but nothing came up and Arthas did not trust any druids anymore.

Jaina never showed any signs of exacting her revenge on Garrosh or the Horde. The Alliance had attacked Ogrimmar only to be driven back but they did manage to retake Northwatch. Despite all that, still Jaina did show up.

So Arthas went to the most likely place to find her. Theramore was a ruin. Where else would a mage go but Dalaran?

It was almost comforting when Arthas stepped out into the brisk air. Dalaran still floated above Crystalsong Forest, in the middle of Northrend. Arthas took a deep breath to take in the cold air, which smelled sharply of arcane magic. Neither Keifer nor Lethumo came with her.

He told them if Sapphire did come back, someone needed to stay behind. While true, that was not the sole reasoning for leaving them behind. Lethumo would be talking the entire time and Arthas could barely tolerate him when he was in a good mood. As for Keifer, the cultist would be better off busying himself with communicating with other cultists. For now, he was the leader of the Cult of the Damned until Kel'thuzad's phylactery showed up or the lich himself did.

Back when he and Jaina were both young and had studied in Dalaran, students of all kinds enjoyed frequenting the Legerdemain Lounge. The hot drinks and sugary foods the lounge served were ideal for long nights of studying. And the rooms upstairs were used for discreet meeting between lovers. During the summer nights, Jaina poured over large tomes while Arthas lay passed out on the couch across from her.

Arthas now stood at the entrance of the lounge. He thought about renting a room and listening around for news on Jaina.

It turned out that he did not need to. Before he could enter, he saw her walking down the street. Their eyes suddenly met and it seemed that all of time stood still at that moment. He smiled at her. She looked much better. Her eyes lost much of the unnatural glow from the mana bomb's aftereffects and there were no bags under her eyes. At some point she had gotten some decent sleep. Her hair still bore the permanent bleaching, with only a single streak of gold left as a cruel reminder of her past.

Jaina moved as if to go to him, but a voice called out. Now her eyes showed a strange emotion. Was that guilt? Shame? She turned to face the person who addressed her. The man, with blue hair and the clothes to match it, came up to her and started to talk to her with enthusiasm. Comparing him to Jaina's height, Arthas realized that this stranger was taller than himself. He also seemed much too comfortable around Jaina.

During their conversation Jaina did not even glance at Arthas once. Once the conversation concluded, the blue haired man tenderly kissed Jaina on the lips. Carving his own heart out had done absolutely nothing to quench his emotions and at that moment all he felt was anger. Jaina finally remembered him it seemed for she turned to rush over to him. He noticed that she smiled before even looking at him. He could hear her quickened pulse even as far away as she was.

"Arthas, I-"

"Who was that?" He interrupted.

The shame returned. Jaina was an open book. She nervously brushed some of her hair out of her face.

"He is Kalecgos, of the Blue dragonflight."

A dragon and a blue one at that. Arthas briefly wondered what this Kalecgos would look like as a fleshless frostwyrm.

"I suppose you care about him?" Arthas asked casually, trying to keep his tone even.

Jaina sighed. She took his hand and entered the Legerdemain Lounge with him. The two of them sat at a secluded table, away from any prying eyes.

"I...don't know. Actually, yes I do. I do care about him. I think I love him."

It would be so easy to kill her for that. She was not even looking in his direction when she said that, as if to pretend he was not there. Arthas could not bring himself do it before she did finally face him.

"But I love you too. Everything is just...so much right now."

Tears started to form in her eyes. Arthas rarely ever saw her cry. Jaina kept her emotions so bottled up usually.

She continued, her voice tinged with anger. "You, you encourage me to take my revenge against Garrosh. I almost did, which would have potentially destroyed the Alliance's fleet and Varian! Kalec stopped me. I am not Garrosh. I am not you!"

That hurt. She was not wrong though. Arthas could have responded snarkily. Instead he gestured to the bar.

"Should I order some coffee or-"

Jaina brushed the tears away and cleared her throat. "I will get some."

She quickly left to go order. Arthas watched her, conflicted. Things were not going as he would have wanted. Too many things needed to be said that was going unsaid. Chief on his mind was Sapphire. He needed Jaina's help to find her, but did not know how to approach the topic. How could he tell Jaina that not only was their daughter alive and had been with him all her life in Icecrown but that she was now missing. For all he knew, she could even be dead.

No, he could not tell her so abruptly. Jaina was barely processing his own reappearance. Sapphire could take care of herself. And if she was dead...then it did not matter. Her body could wait.

Jaina returned with two coffee cups. Arthas took the offered one. They both drank. For some insane reason, Jaina had ordered coffee with ice in it. Arthas nearly spat it out in disgust. Jaina did not seem disgusted, so she at least enjoyed it.

"Do you have any good reasons why I should not lock you up in the Violet Hold with the rest of your monsters?" Jaina suddenly asked.

That response seemed out of nowhere, but not unexpected. At some point he knew he would have to acknowledge everything he had done. Every harm, every death, every atrocity that he committed as champion of the Lich King and then as Lich King himself. He would have rather spoken about it later rather than sooner.

"No, I suppose I do not have good reasons. I have regrets that I failed so miserably. I failed Lordaeron, I failed humanity, I failed you."

Jaina sighed and leaned back into her chair. "Self pity is not becoming of you, Arthas."

Arthas scowled.

"Fine then. Take me and chain me up. Be sure to do it tightly. I'm into that."

The annoyed groan that came from Jaina told Arthas she really was not in the mood for jokes. She was like the old Jaina again. Never enjoying his jokes when there was a more serious discussion at hand.

Arthas drank more of the iced coffee, restraining the urge to curl up his lip in disgust.

Jaina tapped her fingers annoyingly on the top of the wooden table. "Are you a threat to the Alliance?"

"At the moment? No. In fact, I suppose I could be a threat to a certain hostile orc Warchief," Arthas said casually.

The dark look in Jaina's eyes was enough to answer his unspoken question. She wanted Arthas to destroy the Horde for her. It puts all blame off her and onto him.

"I'm sure you want something in return if I were to suggest that," Jaina replied back coldly.

Arthas pulled out a leather pouch that he worn around his neck on a string. He opened it and pulled out the snowy locks of Sapphire. She did not even know he possessed it, but he kept a lot of secrets from his daughter. This was a minor one.

"Could you use this to locate the person it came from? Or atleast tell if that person is dead or alive?"

He had absolutely no intentions of telling Jaina at this time. Not until he knew Sapphire was alive. Jaina took the hair and examined it.

"Yes, I can definitely do that. Why? Whose is it?"

Arthas shook his head. "Not important at the moment. Just do this for me and not only will I refrain from taking any kind of offensive towards the Alliance but I will do my best to bring you Garrosh Hellscream's head."

_________  
Sapphire gritted her teeth painfully as the deathknight shoved forceps into her wound. At some point, she had passed out in Salanar the Horseman's arms while they escaped from Adalger and Thros. When she came to, she woke up on the metal table. From her vantage point, she could see other tables as well. Most of them were empty, but some were not. Chunks of flesh hung from chains around the room. Some tables held racks filled with vials of blood. All kinds of metal implements hung from the walls.

Blood flowed from Sapphire's wound, but this was not a concern of the deathknight. He merely waved one hand and the blood started to flow back in. Due to the blood red armor he wore, Sapphire guessed he was a blood deathknight, which is why Salanar handed her over to him. Blood deathknights knew much about anatomy and blood. Yanking out an arrowhead without damaging her arm required their expertise.

Salanar stood off to the side with his arms crossed and leaning against one of the occupied tables. It was covered with a wrap but one hand hung limply off the edge. Blood still dripped from it. Rot and Tanomoan huddled underneath the table. Rot seemed fine but poor Tanomoan was horrified by their surroundings.

When the deathknight tugged at the arrowhead, pain flared up. Sapphire clenched her fists tightly. Her nails cut into her palms. A tiny cry of pain escaped from her lips. The human deathknight merely grunted as he tried to extract the head.

"Most men would be screaming out in agony from this but all this little stray only whimpers."

Salanar inclined his head slightly. "She is a tough one isn't she?"

Finally, the arrowhead came free from her arm. Bits of her own flesh clung to it. A ghoul came over with a metal tray. The deathknight dropped the arrowhead onto the tray with a wet clink. The deathknight then started to mend Sapphire's muscles. It seemed to hurt even more for her arm to be fixed than it did when the arrow remained in her arm. Her muscles slowly knitted each other together. After that, the deathknight reached over to a table and picked up a needle and suture thread.

Heavy footsteps started to come closer. Sapphire tilted her head to look past the deathknight. Salanar turned to face the the newcomer, While the one currently stitching up her arm had no helm, this new deathknight wore a dark helm with spikes and teeth. Two swords were strapped to his back. Salanar and the new deathknight spoke briefly. Now the deathknight turned his head to look over at Sapphire.

Sapphire glared at him with reproach. She already guessed where she was, and it was not a place she wanted to be. Salanar briefly returned to the injured girl and the blood deathknight.

"I need to speak to the Highlord for a while. Mind feeding and watching over the kid, Lord Thorval?" Salanar asked coolly.

Lord Thorval did not turn around from cleaning his bloodied instruments. "Fine. But you owe me, Sally."

Salanar merely nodded in response. He looked at Sapphire, then pointed at her wound.

"I suggest you keep from reopening that. Try not to get any more enemies while I'm gone, yes?"

Sapphire bit her lip nervously. While she still feared him, Salanar had shown no outward hostility toward her. Neither did Lord Thorval, but this was Acherus, the Ebon Hold. Where all the deathknights that had betrayed her father stayed. If they who she was...

"Hey, you!" Lord Thorval snapped at one of the ghouls under his employ.

It jumped to attention. The deathknight gestured to Sapphire.

"Go to Corpulous and find something suitable for a living girl to eat. No moldy bread or questionable meats. Got it?"

The ghoul tilted its head and looked at Sapphire curiously. She smiled at it. It had been so long since she had seen a ghoul. She missed all of her ghoul friends from Icecrown.

"My name is Sapphire! What's yours?" She askes sweetly.

"Me is Tryg-"

Thorval snapped his fingers and the ghoul flinched before scurrying off to complete its task. Sapphire turned to look at Thorval.

"That was mean!" She said.

The deathknight gave her an odd look before baring his teeth viciously. "Its a ghoul. Try telling that to one when its gnawing off your face. Welcome to Acherus."


	10. Chapter 10

Salanar grabbed Sapphire's uninjured shoulder. She winced briefly when the metal of his gauntlet dug into her flesh. She could feel his glowing green eyes gaze down at her. The two stood before a pair of double doors in one of the wings of the necropolis. Behind the doors, voices could be heard. At least one sounded angry.

"Why are you helping me?" She asked suddenly.

It confused her that Salanar would be doing so much for her, whilst risking the anger of the other deathknights. She could only see the glow of his eyes from his helm so could not discern what he was thinking.

A few seconds passed while he thought of his answer. "Because your predicament is interesting."

He refused to say anymore, even when Sapphire asked. Sapphire took a deep breath, and pushed the doors open. Once, the place had been a small throne room. In the back of her mind, Sapphire assumed this was where her father had taken residence when he was campaigning against the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn. Now it seemed like it was a general meeting room for the Ebon Blade members. A table sat in the middle of the room, with chairs surrounding it. Only four members of the Ebon occupied the room as they entered. Lord Thorval, a lich, and a blood elf woman sat around Highlord Mograine.

Salanar inclined his head respectfully. "Highlord Mograine, I brought her like I asked."

Darion Mograine glanced at Sapphire silently. Of all the others, Sapphire could see their faces at least. Darion Mograine kept that helm on at all times it seemed. Salanar had mentioned it earlier, but grew evasive when she asked him why.

"You are Arthas Menethil's daughter," Highlord Mograine stated. His voice was not as scary as Sapphire expected. It kept the same echoing nature that all deathknights had, but it was not deep like Salanar's or Lord Thorval's.

"Yes, I am."

The blood elf gave Thorval a condescending look and gestured to Sapphire.

"She admits it at least. Now what to do with the viper's spawn?"

Salanar sidestepped around the girl and planted himself firmly between the others and Sapphire. His behavior concerned Sapphire greatly. The Horseman did not even know her. Here was his allies. They all rebelled against her father. If her father was still the Lich King, he would have slaughtered Salanar for merely looking at Sapphire. Yet the Horseman defended her from his traitorous allies.

The Horseman and Highlord Mograine seemed to have some kind of silent communication. He then spoke to the elf, not taking his eyes off of Salanar.

"As much as I would like to agree with you, Lady Alistra, we do not murder children or condemn them on the sins of their fathers."

The blood elf curled her lip up in disdain. Next to her the lich spoke up.

"Yes, but her mere existence is a potential disaster. What if the Horde or Alliance were to learn of her?"

Now that he pointed it out, Sapphire did wonder how mortals would feel if they knew who she was. This Lady Alistra seethed at her mere prescence, even though Sapphire had never met her before. Mortals were crueler. Would they want to hurt her? No one outside of the Scourge knew of her, except Lethumo. Not even Cerelial knew she was Sapphire Menethil. He thought her only as the daughter of a sullen deathknight named Andrew.

Highlord Mograine turned back to his companions now.

"That does not concern us because it will not happen. No one knows who she is except for us."

Again, some kind of silent communication passed between the deathknights. Salanar stirred. "So you intend to keep her here?"

A prisoner. That was what they were intending. She would have preferred death. Sapphire suddenly stepped out from behind Salanar. The deathknight glanced at her in surprise, but did not stop her.

"Should I not be allowed to speak for myself?" She demanded, straightening her back and attempting to look fearless.

While Lady Alistra gave her a dark glare, Lord Thorval smiled. The facial expression of liches were hard to figure out most of the time, but Sapphire could tell he seemed amused. Highlord Mograine stared at her through the eye slits of his helm.

"What do you wish to say?"

Sapphire suddenly regretted her outburst, but she was not about to back down.

"Before Sir Salanar found me, I had been training to be a druid in Moonglade under a member of the Cenarion Circle. I'm not some deathknight you can order around and I won't just sit quietly in a barred cell!"

Silence momentarily followed her declaration. Then dark laughter erupted from behind her. She snapped her head back toward Salanar. The deathknight was laughing uproariously. Then Lord Thorval and the lich both started laughing. Sapphire scowled at all of them. Even Lady Alistra turned her lips up in a cruel smile.

Lord Thorval finally spoke up. "Did you hear that, Highlord? You can't tell the little princess what to do!"

When Salanar patted Sapphire on the head, she felt even worse. They were treating her like a baby. Lady Alistra sighed and got up from the table. She did not even bother looking at Sapphire as she walked out of the room.

"We will not lock you up into a cell, child," The lich responded coolly.

Highlord Mograine finally spoke up. Of all of them, he had been the only one who had not laughed or sneered at her after her insolent statements.

"Call it imprisonment, but you will have free reign of Acherus. You cannot leave the necropolis, not until we can trust you. Salanar convinced me to give you the same treatment we gave to those who surrendered during Arthas's defeat."

Again, she regretted her impulsive behavior. Before she could even think of something to say in way of an apology, the Highlord stood up finally. Lord Thorval and the lich followed suit. The three started to exit the room. As he passed, Lord Thorval reached over and patted Sapphire on the head like Salanar had done.

She stared in disbelief.

Salanar watched them leave calmly, before turning to the girl.

"My, my. That went better than expected."

Sapphire opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but Salanar started to walk off languidly. The girl quickly ran after him.

"Wait! So I'm just supposed to stay here?" She demanded.

Salanar nodded. "It is safer for you to stay."

The two of them walked into the main areas of the necropolis. A few ghouls shambled past, eyeing Sapphire hungrily. She had to practically trot to keep close to Salanar. The deathknight took her to the balcony of Acherus.

Instead of a blue sky, everything was tinged red. The distant smell of smoke carried on the air. Sapphire looked down at the low mountains that Acherus loomed over. She could see the rounded tops of gigantic mushrooms that grew amongst the trees. It looked like how she imagined the Plaguelands looked, though she had never visited the place. In the far distance, snowcapped mountains peaked through the haze.

"Darion Mograine could be considered harsh, but he is not unreasonable. He does not trust you. For good reason. Look what your father did."

Sapphire lowered her gaze down to her feet. Most of the Plaguelands was dead. What little wildlife there was left would be riddled with disease. Their lives cut short and painful. The trees that she could see were scraggly and barely clinging to life. The only things that would actually thrive in the plaguelands would be the giant noxious mushrooms and insects that enjoyed decay. She could not see them, but she knew there were undead still wandering around the forest.

"Do you see why some might be concerned about you?" Salanar asked.

"Yes. Is that why you brought me here?" Sapphire asked softly.

The deathknight did not answer for a moment and instead looked out at the grim landscape. He then whipped around, surprisngly quick in heavy plate. His eyes blazed fiercely. Sapphire jumped back in surprise.

"Better here than with him."

He knew. Arthas was not dead as everyone thought, yet somehow Salanar both knew that he was still around and not only that, but that Sapphire had until recently been with him. Sapphire did not even knew what to say. She could not very well deny it.

Salanar got close to her. "For now, I recommend we keep this between ourselves. For your own sake."

That part was true. If the rest of the Ebon Blade did not trust her now, they definitely would not trust her if she started telling them about Arthas. If they even believed her in the first place. For whatever reason, Salanar thought it should remain a secret. Which confused Sapphire even more. She thought he was a traitor to the Scourge along with the rest of the denizens of Acherus. Could he have been pretending the entire time? Was he some kind of spy for her father?

Before she could ask, Salanar's attention was taken away from her. He looked past her, which caused her to look back. A ghoul stood some yards away. When he saw Sapphire looking, he waved shyly. It was the one that Thorval had been harsh with. Tryg.

"Already find a friend? Keep working on that and there may be hope for you yet," Salanar observed.

_____________

"Ethan Calwood!"

The young paladin came bursting into the room. A grey blur rushed past him and ran immediately into one of the pews. Stub remained unfazed by the collision. He clambered over the fallen pew and stumbled into the main walkway. The few members who were in the church at the time snickered as Ethan desperately tried to coral his hyena friend. At the raised podium, High Cleric Alphus just watched the boy with exasperation.

Ethan had become so preoccupied with his studies that he had neglected to give Stub enough exercise and playtime. So the hyena got bored and decided to entertain himself. Which meant running around and knocking over anything he came across.

Stub cackled as he clambered up to the altar to where the High Cleric stood. He then snatched one of the holy books from the podium.

Ethan grabbed the book and tried to pull it out of the hyena's mouth. Stub merely wagged his tail and yanked the book backwards.

"Stub! Release!" Ethan growled.

The hyena's tail slowed slightly. He whined. The boy gave the animal a stern look. In response, Stub stopped fighting and let go of the book. Sheepishly, Ethan dried off the book as best as he could and held the book out to High Cleric Alphus. The gnome looked disgusted at the drool glistening on the bookcover.

"I am so sorry," Ethan apologized.

"It is fine, my son. Personally, I would get a leash for that...pet of yours."

Ethan attempted to grab Stub but the hyena had other ideas. He ran out of the room. The boy just groaned and started to chase after him. The hyena cackled as he jumped outside.

There, a formidable tall figure stood. Stud kicked up dirt as he skidded to a stop before the man. Ethan stared in increasing dismay as he recognized Highlord Tirion Fordring. As old as the man was, he stood as straight as a man half his age might. The Highlord planted both hands on his hips. Stub's tail slowly stopped wagging and proceeded to lower his head.

"Highlord Fordring! I-" Ethan stuttered.

"So this is the cause of all the ruckus?"

Ethan nodded unhappily. "Yes, I'm so sorry. I have been so busy and Stub got bored and..."

He trailed off nervously.

Tirion Fordring turned his attention to Stub. To the boy's surprise, the Highloord knelt down and pet the hyena. Stub's tail resumed its wagging and he eagerly licked the paladin's hand.

"You should take better care of your friend here, young man."

Unable to reply, the boy just nodded silently. The paladin was much smaller than Ethan's father, but somehow more intimidating. Stub flopped onto the ground and rolled over on his belly, to which the Highlord obliged and gently rubbed the hyena's belly.

Ethan cleared his throat. "I should probably take him back and apologize again to High Cleric Alphus."

Tirion Fordring merely waved dismissively. "I can deal with Alphus. Still, trainees are not allowed pets. Some kind of disciplinary action is required."

He knew it. Not only would Ethan have to do his own studies and work but he would also have to perform some kind of punishment. Forcing trainees to work in the kitchen was a favorite of his teachers.

Tirion stood up, wincing as he did so. For all that tough façade, he was old. It probably hurt to bend his knees like that. Ethan bit his lip to prevent himself from saying something stupid. The Highlord put his hand on Ethan's shoulder and pointed to a farmhouse located next to the keep.

"See that house? At daybreak tomorrow, you can start your punishment by helping out the owner. I recommend you bring your friend with you as well."

Ethan nodded. Stub started to look at a farmer who was just bringing in goats. Tasty, appetizing looking goats. The young paladin immediately grabbed the hyena by the scruff of his neck. The hyena cried as the boy dragged him away.


	11. Chapter 11

In her youth, Jaina had been considered naïve and idealistic. Her resolve persevered even in the darkest of times. The fall of Lordaeron and the Quel'thalas. Even after Arthas, killed thousands and tens of thousands and ruined countless more lives. His death still hurt even after she thought there was nothing left of the man she once loved. When an adventurer brought her the locket she once gave him, she broke down and wept.

That locket became dust in Theramore. And shortly after, Arthas walked back into her life like nothing ever happened. Only she had seemingly moved on. Kalec came into her life and though it had been recent, he had already become such a comforting presence. Whereas Arthas briefly urged her to take her revenge on Garrosh, Kalec had been the one to come and stop her. He'd give her clarity. Jaina did not want to become just like Arthas. Just like Garrosh.

She almost began to think Arthas had been a hallucination until he showed up once again. Before Theramore, she would have told the world of his resurgence. Even now she felt she needed to have him watched. But his genuine offer of killing Garrosh Hellscream tempted her.

After he told her of his request, she had returned to her new quarters. As the new leader of the Kirin Tor, she was given the quarters that her station demanded. A whole wing of the Violet Citadel was put aside for her own use. The very same quarters her old mentor and friend, Antonidas, had used. Though the furniture was changed, the rooms had a sense of familiarity. It was not home, but comfortable.

The object of Arthas's request sat there on her new desk. A lock of white hair. Such a simple thing.

Jaina rarely did the kind of magic he asked for, but she was highly skilled and this spell was simple enough even if she did not know who she was looking for. She isolated the lock of hair within a circle of magic and started to use the location spell.

Easily, the spell told her that the person of interest was located in the Eastern Kingdoms, specifically the northern half of the continent. Jaina felt that would not satisfy Arthas and made the spell more concentrated. It revealed the person was in the far eastern part of the Plaguelands.

At that, Jaina wrote a terse letter. Jaina still did not know how to deal with the situation. Everything was different. She was not the naïve young mage anymore.

As the leader of the Kirin Tor now, she could practically get anyone to do what she asked. After tracking down a young apprentice within the Citadel, she ordered the young man to deliver the letter to Arthas at the Legerdemain Lounge. He probably expected her to return and tell him herself what she found. Jaina did not want to look at him again, at least until she could figure out how to.

When she returned to her study, she could not help but become more curious about the strange situation. He never apologized for any of the atrocities he committed nor show any kind of remorse. No, instead he just wanted to find someone. Who was Arthas so keen to find and why was the person in the Plaguelands?

Jaina's curiosity won out. She pulled out a hand mirror from one of the drawers and now started a different kind of spell. The spell condensed around the white hair. The violet magic swirled before floating over to the mirror. Mirrors were very useful in scrying, better than water at showing what she needed to see.

The mirror slowly revealed a dimly lit room. In the sparsely furnished room, a young girl sat on a simple bed. She was studiously examining a thick book spread across her lap. An undead dog and a fey darter, a strange combination, lay curled up asleep on the bed next to her. Jaina could not see anything of the girl's facial features underneath the unruly mane of snow white hair, which was proof that this was who Arthas sought.

Out of view in the mirror, the sound of a door being opened caused the girl to snap the book shut and looked up at the intruder. A rotting ghoul shambled inside, carrying a metal tray of food.

The mage did not care about what the ghoul was doing. She focused on the girl. Silver scar tissue spread across a jagged patch of the girl's left cheek. Similarly, more scar tissue could be seen barely peaking out from the collar of her robes. A smaller scar cut through the girl's eyebrow as well. Her eyes...the ocean itself paled compared to those deep cobalt blue pools.

Jaina recognized those eyes. Tears started to form as Jaina realized who the young girl was. It had not even been a month since Jaina lost so many people at Theramore. People she loved. Now, not only did Arthas come back from the grave but so did another whose appearance seemed to hurt even more. As an undead, it seemed more likely for him to return. But...This girl. Jaina only knew her for a few hours before she was forever lost to her. Or so it had seemed so long ago.

_______  
As a midwife, Sarina Rudges was highly respected in Boralus society. She helped many young mothers give birth and saw the births of many children each year. She also witnessed stillbirths and mothers die in childbirth. Sometimes it could not be helped and it was rare. So whenever a child was born dead or died shortly after, no one blamed Sarina. She was experienced and sought after by many. Young mothers who might not want anyone to know of their condition knew Sarina would have discretion.

So when the Admiral's own daughter asked for Sarina, the midwife was not entirely surprised. Younger women, even brilliant young mages like Miss Proudmoore. Especially considering the young mage's own lineage, Sarina could not dare refuse her.

It was difficult birth. An impatient child, the baby was born a month early, giving Sarina very little time to prepare. The baby was born feet first, rather than head first like normal births should be. The young Proudmoore bled profusely. Not only that, but after all that difficulty, the baby was a runt.

When Sarina held the bloody writhing mass, she restrained a smile. A runt and born prematurely? Anything could go wrong. The child might die even before Sarina had a chance to take her away. Dying would be a kinder fate than the one Gorak Tul planned.

That night, Sarina enacted her plan. She quietly entered the young mage's room. As a precaution, Sarina insisted that the young miss Proudmoore stay in the midwife's own home. She always kept a room available for such an occasion.

While the room had been cleaned up, the smell of blood lingered. Jaina Proudmoore slept in the small bed, weak from blood loss and heavily medicated. Nothing would wake her that night. Next to the bed was a small crib. The baby slept blissfully unaware of how violent and bloody her entrance to the world had been. Or how soon and violent her exit would be.

Sarina now used her magic, given to her by the generous Gorak Tul. After a moment, Jaina Proudmoore seemed to stand over her own sleeping body.

The old midwife relished in her youthful appearance briefly, but she needed to get the deed over with. Gorak Tul knew of the baby's existence and was becoming impatient already. Sarina took the baby into her arms gently lest she wake it. She despised the crying of infants. One of her subordinates would tell the mother the horrible news of the baby dying in its sleep.

She quickly left her own home and then made her way out of the city. This was a familiar task. The baby was not the first Sarina had given over to Gorak Tul, nor would it be the last. The master never explicitly told the old witch what he did with the infants, but she could certainly guess.

Since it was so late at night, practically no one was on the streets. A few guards would lazily patrol on occasion, but Sarina knew how to avoid the half asleep sluggards.

Sarina made her way out towards the docks to a lone boat. A hooded figure stood in the boat, oars in hand. He lifted his head at Sarina's approach.

"Do you have it?" He asked.

Sarina curled her lip up disgust. "Of course I do."

She boarded the boat and they quickly went off as quietly into the night. To cross the bay from Boralus to Drustvar took several hours. By the time the small boat reached the shore, the sky was starting to lighten thought it was still an hour or two before dawn. The rowman stayed behind while Sarina disembarked. His only job was to ferry her back and forth whenever she asked.

The baby only woke when she left the rowboat, and started to wail. Sarina did not care. She hiked up through the forest on a familiar path. For the most part, the eastern half of Drustvar was protected from Drust magic by a meddlesome stag. Small pockets of old Drust ruins were the only places that Drust magic could be used without incurring the notice of others. Sarina headed to one of these areas.

Pale light filtered through the dark forest. Stone ruins scattered amongst the roots and fallen leaves. Sarina put the crying baby onto one of these stone outcroppings. She needed reagents in order to summon the Huntsman and could not do it while holding the loud mongrel. She assumed it would be safe enough. Near the hunting grounds of the local town, long ago predators learned to stay away from the area.

She needed plenty of dead wood along with bones. Along with something with a heartbeat. The hunting grounds provided that usually. Some hunter would have laid a trap sometime in the night for a rabbit or squirrel. Sarina did not need anything big. She wandered the hunting grounds searching for signs of human activity.

As Sarina looked however, she heard the distant thundering of hooves. At first she did not care. Some messenger or ranger was travelling through the woods on urgent business, but as she continued through the forest a dark feeling starting to creep in the back of her mind. What if Proudmoore had woken during the night and found her baby missing. What if they sent guards off to look for the baby? Could they have tracked her down?

Sarina forgot about looking for any sacrifice and started to hurriedly return to the ruins.

Two heavily armored men entered the area of the ruins. Even from far away, Sarina could smell the stench of death clinging to them. The air chilled drastically as if winter itself suddenly arrived.

One of them walked toward the infant. Every blade of grass he stepped on froze on contact. As soon as the baby could see the man's face under the hood, it stopped crying and stared. Sarina watched in dismay as the man picked up the baby and casually walked back to his companion.

"She is still alive." His voice did some kind strange echoing noise that caused Sarina to tremble with uncontrollable fear.

"She? How disappointing," The other said, with the same unsettling voice but deeper.

Without any ceremony, the two left without another word. The hooded man with the infant took greater care to mount his horse. Gorak Tul would not be getting his promised child it seemed. As strong as Sarina was, something about these two men terrified her.


	12. Chapter 12

Ethan knocked on the farmhouse door. The sun had not shown itself yet, but it was light enough to see. Both Ethan and Stub yawned sleepily while they waited. Neither one liked getting up early, but it had to be done. Ethan was determined to make up for his mistake. He did not like disappointing anyone.

Shortly after he knocked, the door opened. Ethan stared at the person inside.

Tirion Fordring stood there. Before he could say anything, Stub pushed past Ethan and entered the house without hesitation.

"Highlord, I-" Ethan started.

The old man gestured for the boy to come in. Ethan did so, rather uncomfortably. The farmhouse was rather nice, much better than the barracks Ethan slept in. The main room had nice soft chairs and tiny tables. A few shelves in the corner held books. He had gotten used to manmade buildings, though if given the choice Ethan would much rather sleep in a cave.

"Are you hungry? I was just making breakfast."

Now Ethan could smell something really nice and followed Tirion willingly into the small kitchen. He saw pancakes, eggs, and most importantly, strips of bacon in a pan. Stub stood there, sniffing appreciably toward the food but only dissuaded by the hot flames in the hearth.

Ethan immediately pulled Stub away and sat at the small kitchen table. "Yes, sir. I would very much appreciate some breakfast. But shouldn't I do whatever my punishment is first?"

The older man turned around and smiled at the boy. "I believe that can wait, but I won't torment you with apprehension. You have done well in taking care of the horses at the stables, including my dear Mirador. I spoke with your teachers as well and they tell me you are a good student who does everything he is asked without complaint."

Breakfast was nearly finished and Tirion put a plate of food before Ethan and himself. Stub wagged his tail furiously and the older man gave the hyena his own plate as well. Ethan tried to eat slowly but he was hungry. Stub had no restraint and devoured every crumb off his plate within a minute.

Halfway through breakfast, Tirion stopped eating. Out of respect, Ethan put down his own cutlery and stopped eating as well.

Tirion folded his arms and started to speak on the reason Ethan was there. "I could use some help, not only around the house but also in dealing with others. Too many people want my opinion on too many things. You understand?"

Before he could respond, The Highlord gave Ethan a stern expression. "This will not be a fun job. It requires a lot of hard work."

Ethan swallowed before nodding. "Yes sir. I will do my best!"

"Good. Now as soon as you are done eating, I want you show me how well you can write."

By the end of the day, Ethan regretted agreeing to help the Highlord. He was the envy of all paladins, being able to personally help the great Tirion Fordring, but the Highlord did not embellish. After making sure Ethan could write decently, the Highlord tested him on practically everything else a person could learn. Mathematics, swordplay, history, and everything else.

Not only that, but Ethan's other chores were also still in effect. He still needed to take care of the horses in the stables and attend his training. The boy's entire body ached by the time dinner came around and he ate in silence for the most part. After that, Ethan did not even go to evening prayer. He collapsed in his bed, barely noticing when Stub hopped up next to him and curled up. The boy wearily flung one arm over the hyena and passed out.

The next day appeared to be worse. While old, Tirion Fordring seemed to be in better shape than Ethan. Ethan helped the Highlord with his own duties around the farmhouse. Even though he was a paladin, Tirion maintained a small farm. He grew some vegetables in a small garden. There were chickens, pigs, and even a cow. The Highlord even found a job for Stub. Ethan and the hyena cut down trees for firewood. Using an old horse harness, Stub dragged the heavy logs back to the house while Ethan cut the wood.

Ethan refused to complain even when he got a painful splinter in one of his hands. If he asked the Light could heal the wound but as the High Cleric said, the Light should not be used for frivolous or selfish reasons.

The Highlord approved or so it appeared. After lunch, he gave Ethan a much needed break. As always, when Ethan had free time, he took Stub out into the forest to relax. Forests calmed Ethan. Mountains were nice as well, and to the north were snow capped mountains much like in Drustvar. They reminded him of home though here in the healed part of the Plaguelands. The forests here were made up of pines. Ethan preferred trees with leaves that would turn orange, yellow, and red in the fall. He enjoyed jumping into piles of freshly fallen leaves.

Stub did not mind the strong smelling trees. He loved running around, grabbing sticks or chasing deer.

Greenstalker had been right when he sent him away. Ethan needed to be with others of his own kind, even if he did not like it at first. And the Plaguelands sorely needed someone to take care of them. Though farmers were starting to return to the area, it was hard to grow much.

A tiny sapling grew near Ethan. It's tiny needles were yellowed and diseased.

While selfish to heal his own pain, Ethan knelt down next to the sapling and asked the Light to help. A softened glow appeared in his hands and he touched the feeble sapling. It seemed to perk up straighter and the yellowed needles started to fade into a green color, though it was not as green as the other trees.

Ethan smiled at the sight. Stub came rushing forward to his friend and sniffed the tree curiously. Then, he moved to the side of the tree and lifted one leg.

"Stub no!"

The hyena made a cackling sound as the boy shooed him away. Ethan sighed before checking the time by looking at the sun. If he did not leave the forest soon, he would be late. After wrangling the hyperactive hyena and putting him up for the day, Ethan went off for his training.

_________  
Jaina sent an apprentice to inform him. An apprentice. If he had the time to hide the body, he would have simply snapped the youth's neck without a second thought. He felt like snapping Jaina's neck as well. Theramore had changed more than just Jaina's hair. Instead, he accepted the letter given and let the apprentice walk away alive. The letter confirmed his worst fear.

Sapphire had been attempting to enter the Emerald Dream with the aid and supervision of a seasoned druid. Yet she not only was not in the Emerald Dream, but she was no longer even in Kalimdor. She somehow went from Moonglade across the ocean to the Plaguelands. Infested with feral undead roaming for a meal, rogue necromancers looking for fresh material and overzealous knights looking to prove themselves, the Plaguelands were no place for a wayward child to end up.

Arthas wasted no time. He returned to Moonglade. After informing Kiefer of the problem, the two of them started readying themselves. A few weeks ago Arthas had managed to get a hold of a complete set of plate. It was acceptable, but Arthas dearly missed his old armor. Worse, he desired Frostmourne, whole and unshattered. Instead, he had not only managed to lose Sapphire but of course the only piece of Frostmourne he knew of. The one imbedded in his daughter's heart with only a layer of muscle, fluid and fat between it and Sapphire's lifeblood.

As Arthas finished buckling the last of his new armor, someone knocked on the door.

"Enter," He said, expecting it to be Kiefer. Lethumo entered his bedroom. To Arthas's surprise, the night elf wore travelling clothes.

He scowled. "Going somewhere?"

Lethumo raised his eyebrows. "Apparently the Plaguelands. Kiefer told me."

Arthas just shoved Lethumo against the door and brushed past him.

"You are not coming with us."

All Arthas imagined was his corpse on the fungus riddled earth, intestines hanging out while ghouls feasted on his face. No, he would not last a day. Lethumo's mouth went agape and it took him a second to start speaking. He stumbled after Arthas and jumped in front of him. Kiefer peered out of his own room, as equally prepared as Arthas albeit in a different way. Reagent pouches and a spellbook hung from his belt.

Lethumo put his hands palms up toward Arthas. "Wait wait wait! I can help."

"You? Helpful?" Kiefer sneered.

The night elf jerked back with an offended look.

"Yes! I speak six languages, am a master of diplomacy, and...can fight if I need to."

He sounded so unsure, Arthas knew that the elf would be a problem. Lethumo enjoyed comfort. The Plaguelands held no comforts. Which was why he was confused as to why the night elf even wanted to come with them.

"Is there a reason you wish to come?" Arthas demanded harshly.

Surprisingly, Lethumo did not even flinch at his rough question. The elf stood firmly between Arthas and the door.

"Because I care about you...I mean Sapphire, of course! She must be so scared and I feel like it is my fault. I should have been watching over her more carefully. Please let me come?"321`

If he cared enough about Lethumo's feelings, Arthas might have told the elf that it was not his fault and encouraged him to stay for his own safety. However, suddenly there came a thought. Lethumo could be right. Sapphire alone and scared? What if she turned into that beast again? Lethumo's singing, though lackluster, comforted Sapphire.

Arthas approached the elf until they were standing inches from each other. Lethumo's heart fluttered. It beat so hard that Arthas wondering how the elf could hear himself think.

"You may come, but I will leave you to the dogs if you show weakness."

The night elf nodded. "I understand."

Arthas shoved past him once again this time exiting the house. While Sapphire had enjoyed the stay in Moonglade, Arthas barely tolerated it. He only stayed for his daughter's sake and now felt relieved to leave the place for a final time. Cerelial would take care of Sapphire's belongings until he could safely send them to their proper owner. Among them, Sapphire's unopened birthday present lay forgotten for a time.


	13. Chapter 13

Salanar watched Sapphire feed Tryg and the other undead.

"You know...when I mean make friends I should have clarified. Friends that can speak in complete sentences."

Acherus felt more like home than Moonglade, Stormwind, or even Ratchet. While they were traitors, everyone in Acherus had once been Scourge. Most seemed hostile to Sapphire, but she felt a lot safer in the necropolis than on the streets of Stormwind.

Lord Thorval and Salanar were the only deathknights who behaved amicably with her. Sapphire had better success with the lesser undead. Tryg the ghoul followed her around everywhere. He introduced her to the other ghouls as well as geists and zombies around the necropolis. Even in Icecrown, Sapphire could befriend any lesser undead. No high ranking undead would notice her despite her status as the Lich King's daughter. She was still mortal and pretty useless.

At least with ghouls and zombies, Sapphire could win them over with a bone or scrap of meat. The undead of Acherus were just as easy to befriend. During the day Sapphire spent her time either with the ghouls, Lord Thorval, or Salanar.

So Sapphire was feeding her undead friends some questionable meat the quartermaster reluctantly gave her. She and her friends all sat in a rarely used storage room. Old swords and armor collected dust.

As she fed her friends, she perused the grimoire she found in Thros. One of her teachers in Icecrown had taught her some vrykul runes and the Drust language seemed similar enough, but she did not know enough. Bolfr wanted her to make him a body. The strange construction required fresh wood along with animal body parts. While the construction was simple, she needed to understand more before she could attempt to bring the nice Drust back to life.

Someone else could potentially read more. Sapphire thought of Amal'thazad but while she trusted Thorval and Salanar, she did not believe the lich would help her with such a matter. So she kept silent about her promise. Bolfr could wait for a while.

She sat reading for what seemed like hours until suddenly the undead around her grew uneasy. Sapphire looked up to see a small group of deathknights enter the room. At first Sapphire did not think they had any malicious goals. Until one closed the door and locked it from the inside. A cold feeling clutched at Sapphire's heart and she turned toward Salanar in concern.

The Horseman had vanished into thin air. Sapphire now panicked.

There were three deathknights, led by a blood elf man with dark hair and an equally dark scowl on his face. He stepped forward. All of the geists and ghouls immediately circled defensively around Sapphire. Such devotion was a shock to Sapphire. All she had done was be nice to them and feed them scraps. Next to her, Tryg growled.

The lead deathknight curled up his lip.

"I was not sure before but now there cannot be a doubt. You are the scion of the Dark Lord, the butcher king. I remember you when I was still apart of the Scourge before that vile bastard fell."

Terror gripped Sapphire so hard she could not even deny it or speak at all. These deathknights were not orginally Acherus knights. They must have been freed at her father's defeat and given amnesty by the Knights of the Ebon Blade. They knew her even if she did not know them. She never harmed any of them but that did not matter.

Tryg snatched her hand and pulled her back, away from the danger. A dwarf woman sneered.

"A few corpses canna protect ye, little princess."

Now the deathknights attacked the undead. It was a slaughter. Sapphire turned away, panicked over the situation. She could not kill three deatkhnights even with the help of the undead. What could she do? Turn into a bear?

A stabbing pain exploded from her chest and she gasped out in pain, clutching the affected area.

Suddenly there was a savage cry and Sapphire lunged away without looking back. The dwarf woman had attempted to cleave her in half with a wicked two handed axe. Sapphire scrabbled behind an old weapons rack and shoved it against the deathknight. Old weapons fell to the ground clanging.

_Kill them for their insolence._

"No!" Sapphire said to the disembodied voice which sounded uncomfortably familiar. She turned into a bear and swung one paw at the dwarf. Her plate armor obviously protected her from Sapphire's razor sharp claws but the deathknight did fall back against the force of the blow. Sapphire roared angrily.

_Let their blood flow._

Wherever the voice was coming from, Sapphire did not know but she refused to listen to them. All she could think of was that old cultist whose arm she tore off and swallowed. The taste of blood and flesh came back and Sapphire felt bile rise in her throat. She had only been defending herself hadn't she? What was so different now?

The dwarven deathknight attacked again and Sapphire backed up in alarm, one paw raised defensively. She batted away the axe and went for the dwarf's throat. The other deathknight, an orc grabbed her by her neck fur and slammed Sapphire to the floor. She struggled against the orc but even as a bear she could not match the deathknight's strength and he kept her forced to the floor.

She saw the blood elf approach, with his bloodied sword shining in the dark. The fear she felt hurt more than whatever stabbing pain was radiating from her chest.

"We could not have our revenge against your father, but we are willing to settle for you."

The blood elf raised his sword with both hands.

_**Kill them!** _

Outraged at their misguided hatred, Sapphire suddenly got a burst of strength and managed to throw off the orc. She roared as loud as she could. The dwarf and elf went toward her but Sapphire lunged at the elf. The sword did not discourage her. She grabbed it in her mouth, not caring if it cut her tongue or anything else and yanked it from the deathknight. She then hit him hard with her head and heard a crack as he fell backwards.

She whipped around toward the dwarf. The floor itself turned dark as the deathknight did some kind of magic but Sapphire did not notice any pain or difference. She came forward, unrelenting, and with one paw ripped off the dwarf's helm. The woman cried out in surprise but Sapphire ended that as she clamped her jaws around the knight's face and shook her like Rot might shake a rat.

Sapphire dropped the dwarf, who fell limply to the ground. The orc had recovered and now summoned up a blizzard of ice and snow to disorient Sapphire. It worked, for the orc managed to surprise her from the side and hit her with his mace. The bones in her arm, still recovering from the Huntsman's arrow, cracked from the impact.

Sapphire let out an agonized roar and started to see black. Rage filled her and the voice came into her head once more. She listened to it this time. The blizzard suddenly dissipated, which left both of the standing knights confused.

"Why stop it?" The elf demanded.

The orc shook his head. "I didn't!"

Sapphire stood up on her hind legs now. At full height, her bear form reached over seven feet tall. She bared her gleaming teeth into a vicious snarl.

"I did."

With that declaration Sapphire switched back into her own form, small and seemingly fragile. Despite her now broken arm, Sapphire did not hesitate now. All of the ghouls and geists and zombies, all killed off by the deathknights, now started to rise again. Some of their limbs had been hacked off but that did not stop them from surrounding the two. Dark magic mists swirled around the knights arms and legs, forcing them both into kneeling positions.

"I did nothing to either of you! Yet you attack me?" Sapphire snapped.

"Your existence is blight on this world," The blood elf retorted angrily.

Sapphire strode over to the elf and grabbed his throat with her unhurt hand. She could almost taste his blood, but just like that all the rage seemed to flow out of her. It felt like she had not slept in a week and she collapsed from the sudden fatigue. Tryg caught her as she fell.

"Kill...kill them all," Sapphire gasped out at the other undead. They did as asked, leaping onto the immobilized knights with relish and tore them to pieces. Sapphire dimly heard banging on the locked door.

Suddenly the sound of metal boots on the hard floor appeared behind her and Tryg. Sapphire flinched at the sound but it was not a hidden enemy. Salanar appeared out of thin air and surveyed the destruction before him.

"My, my. Usually it is a poor feeling indeed to be proven wrong, but I am glad to admit this mistake. I did not think you had it in you. Nice job, kid."

"I...I don't know what you mean?" Sapphire said, completely bewildered by Salanar's behavior and words. He left her to be attacked and then praised her for what? Killing three deathknights? Were they not his own brothers and sister in arms?

The door to the storage room broke as two random deathknights came in to investigate all the noise. One looked at the eviserated deathknights.

"What happened?" She demanded, looking accusatorily at both Salanar and the group of undead. She did not even glance at Sapphire, who still lay crumpled in Tryg's arms.

Salanar proceeded waved casually at the destruction. "This? Oh, it seemed these idiots were...annoyed with the sight of my young friend here. I guess despite defeating the Lich King though their wills were their own, they couldn't control their own bloodlust. A shame I had to kill them but what else but put down rabid dogs?"

The other deathknight gave Sapphire a cursory look but again the focus seemed to be on Salanar.

"We should inform the Highlord of this," He said worriedly. Salanar nodded sagely.

"Indeed, you should. For now, I think I should take my little friend to Lord Thorval. Mortals are so fragile and one of those bastards broke her arm."

Sapphire winced when the deathknight turned to pick her up, jarring her broken arm painfully.

Lord Thorval scowled when Salanar came in bearing Sapphire with Tryg trailing behind. The blood deathknight's tables were all full of bodies, but that did not stop Salanar. He lifted one leg and kicked a body, half cut open, off the table and to the floor.

"Oh look, Lord Thorval has space for you now." Salanar said casually as Thorval grunted in annoyance and left to get his tools.

Sapphire winced as she was placed onto the table. While Salanar had moved the body, he did not clean up the blood which quickly soaked into her shirt.

"Salanar...Why did you lie? What did you mean you didn't think I had it in me? Have what in me?"

The deathknight's expression was unreadable.

"Why, the power of Frostmourne from that shard in your heart. Did you just assume a young mortal woman could just kill three deathknights so easily?"

Sapphire stared at him blankly. Suddenly that dark voice made sense and she realized whose voice it had been. And the scar on her chest? The one that she did not remember ever receiving. All of her other scars, she could remember where they came from.

"I...have a piece of Frostmourne...inside me?" She whispered.

Had she truly been so stupid to not see it? Why else did Arthas seem to start caring for her only after he was defeated? The scar had not been there before. Though she feigned amnesia before with Volugg, it was clear there actually was a gap in her memory. Was this when her father had stabbed her with a piece of Frostmourne? That was the only reason he had followed her after Northrend. Why he protected her.

The pain of her broken arm did not cause any tears but this realization did.

Salanar reached down and retrieved a scrap of cloth from the body on the floor. He handed it to her.

"I did not realize you didn't know. Apologies."

Sapphire did not use the cloth to wipe away her tears. She let them flow freely and let out a small choking sound. What a fool she was. He never gave a damn about her. She was just a weapon it seemed. Salanar had known. Kiefer probably knew as well.

When she heard someone coming, she expected it to be Thorval, but it was Highlord Mograine instead. Atleast...she assumed it was. For when the deathknight entered, she recognized the armor but without the intimidating helm. And it was not some grizzled, heavily scarred man like she imagined Darion Mograine looked.

He was barely older than her. Sapphire stared at the sun kissed hair that grew unkempt on the young man's head. She'd never seen a deathknight with such hair before. Nor such a youthful, almost soft face. Sapphire felt her own face start to warm as she looked at Darion.

The Highlord spoke briefly with Salanar before meeting Sapphire's gaze. She seemed to warm even more and it felt like her stomach was full of winged insects fluttering about.

"I was told what happened. As leader of the entire order of Ebon Blade Knights...I would like to apologize for this incident. This is not what we are," He said, raising his voice in anger with each word.

Sapphire just bit her lip. She did not know what to say, but Darion did not seem to want a response.

"It seems you cannot be safe here. After some thought...I believe there is a safer place for you but I must speak with an old friend first."

Atleast she would be leaving the place soon. Those deathknights had spoiled Acherus for her. Though she would miss being amongst undead. Suddenly Sapphire sat up, causing pain to shoot up her arm.

"Wait. What about Tryg?" Sapphire demanded.

Darion raised an eyebrow. Salanar gestured to the ghoul who suddenly cowered behind Sapphire worriedly.

Sapphire grew defensive. "He's my friend. Can he come with me?"

The Highlord seemed thoughtful, but did not give her a straight answer.

"Again, I need to speak to my friend. I promise nothing. In the meantime, do you feel safe enough here in Thorval's lab?"

Sapphire nodded. Lord Thorval never gave her any reason to fear him any more than Salanar did. Darion turned back to Salanar now.

"I'll be putting guards around the lab. Do not let her out for her own safety."

Now Sapphire saw a different side of the Horseman. He seemed almost...angry.

"I need to speak to you alone," Salanar now hissed. This did not seem to sway Mograine, despite him being shorter than Salanar and much much younger.

Thorval entered just as the two of them left. He put down a tray of implements. One of which was a syringe.

"As good as you are with pain, I am going to need to fix that bone. You will scream. I prefer working in silence so...Will you consent to a sedative or am I going to enjoy strapping you down and just plug my ears with wax?"

Sapphire was too exhausted and confused to argue. Everything hurt. All she felt was pain and betrayal. Sapphire wearily held out her uninjured arm and did not even wince when Thorval stuck the needle into a vein.


	14. Chapter 14

Acherus was smaller than Jaina thought. When she first heard about it during the war in Northrend, Jaina expected a necropolis the size of Naxxramas. Instead, it was just a quarter of the size.

Jaina stood there quietly, observing the deathknights. They were a stark reminder of how despicable Arthas had been. These men and women had been raised into undead and used against their will by Arthas. Not only that, but they had rebelled against him and won their freedom only to be plagued by their own deeds and guilt.

Highlord Mograine approached Jaina after half an hour of waiting. A lich and another deathknight followed behind him. Their leader was the one Jaina pitied the most. Darion Mograine had been only nineteen when he died and was the youngest deathknight. He would never age and remain young and a monster as well.

Despite his youth, Darion Mograine "Lady Proudmoore. I heard about Theramore...I am truly sorry for what happened. What can the Knights of the Ebon Blade do for you?"

"It has come to my attention that you have my daughter. Where is she?" Jaina demanded, not in the mood for idle chatting. She knew the girl was here and was not about to listen to any lies.

Surprisingly, Darion did not try to deny it. He just sighed.

"I was worried you might come to us. Lady Proudmoore, I cannot let you have her."

Jaina quelled her own rage at his response but her voice sharpened drastically. "What do you mean? That's my daughter!"

The Highlord did not react to her hostility, but other deathknights in the vicinity glanced over at the two nervously.

"Forgive me, my lady, but your daughter is technically a war criminal. As a member of the Scourge, I must keep her in my custody until she is pardoned."

That was one of the most outrageous claims Jaina had ever heard. Her daughter was a child. Not even fifteen years old, unless Jaina misremembered the year. Still, Jaina tried her best to keep herself under control.

Jaina cleared her throat. "I am leader of the Kirin Tor. I have the ability to pardon war criminals."

The other deathknight, an arrogant looking elf, snorted in derision. Darion jerked his head back to glare at the deathknight, who quieted but did not attempt to hide her own contempt toward Jaina. Instead of the Highlord, the lich replied with its icy, calculating voice.

"While you can pardon criminals, you are unfortunately too biased for us to release the child to you."

Though she despised the lich for merely existing and did not want to admit that it had a point, Jaina could not argue against this case. It seemed the Ebon Blade's leaders had put great thought in this strange situation. But Jaina knew from sources that Darion Mograine was honorable and a good person despite his dark exterior. She also knew that he was sensitive to anything involving familial situations.

She appealed to Darion's good nature. "Can I at least see her?"

After a moment of thought, the Highlord relented. "Fine."

He escorted her to a room filled with horror. Jaina restrained the urge to cover her nose and mouth as the smell of blood and embalming fluid washed over her. Disection tables lined the room. Hooks hung from the ceiling. Pieces of people hung from them.

That was not what Jaina came for however. She saw her daughter lying on one of the tables and rushed over to her. Instead of being cut open, one of Sapphire's arms had been sewed up as well as immobilized with a splint. Both the dog and the fey dragon Jaina had seen before were curled up next to the girl. When the dog saw Jaina approach, it hopped up and started to bark viciously. The fey darter's head popped up and saw Jaina. It squeaked cheerfully. When the dog would not stop barking, the dragon leapt onto it and nipped it on the snout.

Jaina shakily reached out to the girl, terrified that all of this was some hallucination brought on by the mana bomb. But when she touched the girl's uninjured arm and felt the warmth, Jaina felt tears come to her eyes.

"What is her name?" Jaina demanded.

A deathknight stirred in the corner. Unlike the rest, this one seemed even less alive. His green eyes glowed dangerously under his helm.

"Sapphire Menethil," He growled.

Sapphire. Like her dark blue eyes. White hair partially covered her face. Jaina reached over to brush some of the hair away. The dog bared his teeth but did not do anything to the mage.

"She had an...accident. Which is why we are sending her somewhere safer," Darion Mograine explained.

Jaina turned to glare at him. "Where? Where are you sending her?"

Darion did not react to her accusatory tone and kept himself under control.

"To Hearthglen."

Hearthglen. Darion was sending Sapphire to Tirion Fordring. As much as Jaina admired Tirion, she did not like the idea of having her daughter being sent away from her. The poor child had been through enough.

"Can I come with her?" Jaina suddenly asked, fidgeting nervously.

Darion crossed his arms and tilted his head. "You are the leader of the Kirin Tor. Can you really be spared? I promise I will see to her safety from now on. Highlord Fordring can contact you when she arrives."

Jaina shook her head immediately.

"No, I am going with her. I am not asking again," She snapped defensively.

"As you wish. You can stay here for now," Darion hissed in reply.

Jaina returned to her daughter's side, glancing over at the broody knight in the corner. He did not offer up his name or anything else in terms of conversation, so Jaina decided to prod him into it.

"Does Sapphire know about me?" She asked.

The deathknight stirred and responded in a snarky tone. "No idea...my lady."

Another deathknight came in. This one wore blood red armor and carried bloodied medical instruments. He stopped when he saw Jaina.

"Ah. Lady Proudmoore. News reaches you fast," He said in a more friendly tone than any of the others had.

He came over to her and her daughter and gave the girl a cursory look. He pointed to the stitching and the splint.

"Had to knock her out to fix up that broken bone. She has a nasty habit of getting into trouble. Oh, I am Lord Thorval by the way. I assume Salanar over there hasn't introduced himself yet. It's not personal. Sally is an asshole."

Salanar gave Lord Thorval a sharp look.

Jaina put a hand on her daughter protectively. As friendly as Lord Thorval acted, he was still undead.

"When will she wake?"

The deathknight shrugged. "Probably in an hour or two. I didn't measure the dose. I'm not used to dealing with...willing patients."

Jaina intended on being there when Sapphire woke. She did not ask before taking a seat on an empty table. Lord Thorval did not seem to care if she stayed or went and returned to his own business. Salanar stood there for a long time, just staring at Jaina. But eventually he got up and walked past both mother and daughter. He left the room entirely.

__________  
Whatever Thorval gave her, it did the trick. As she woke, Sapphire felt no pain and remembered no dreams. A stiff splint pressed against her broken arm. Sapphire groaned as she woke. Tiny claws scrabbled over her both and a wet nose nuzzled her. Sapphire smiled. Someone had put Rot and Tanomoan next to her.

She opened her eyes and indeed was greeted by a tiny furry face. Rot woofed quietly in order to not startle her. He then enthusiastically started to lick her face. Sapphire tried to stretch as much as she could with her arm splinted and slowly sat up.

A stranger sat at the table next to her. A woman, very tall and slim, looked at her with concern. Like Sapphire, the woman's hair gleamed white except for a large streak of gold. She wore strange robes of violet and pale white.

"Uh...Hi," Sapphire said, quickly looking around for Salanar. He was no where to be found, but at least Lord Thorval stood in the corner reading a book.

The woman got to her feet. Sapphire watched her warily approach.

"My name is Jaina. Jaina Proudmoore. Do you know who I am?"

Sapphire tried to think of that name and where she might have heard it. Nothing came to mind so she merely shook her head. Why was this woman here?

The woman let a out a deeply held breath.

"I am a mage. Currently the leader of the Kirin Tor but I started out as nothing but a student. Before I ever started learning in Dalaran however, I met a young prince named Arthas. Do you know who that is?"

Sapphire stiffened at her father's name. Even Rot woofed slightly at the name. Jaina Proudmoore gave her a serious look.

"He is your father of course you know this...but did he ever tell you about your mother?"

Again, Sapphire could do nothing but shake her head. No one, not even Marwyn, had ever said anything about a mother. Sapphire just assumed she did not have a mother. Magic could reanimate flesh and blood. Why could it not make a new person? But Sapphire learned otherwise that it was not that easy. If not some creation by necromancy, Sapphire also assumed her mother was dead or just some random cultist. Someone with magic ability-

Sapphire's eyes widened as she realized what this woman was trying to tell her. Sapphire now looked up at Jaina and saw the similarities. Though Sapphire's eyes were darker, both were blue. Once Sapphire's hair shone gold like this woman's own hair attested to. That nose and those ears...Sapphire saw it.

"Are...are you my mother?" Sapphire asked.

Jaina Proudmoore nodded, then let out a small smile. "I thought you were dead."

Now the mage came forward and wrapped her arms around Sapphire. She did not know how to react to the hug or the new information. She felt Jaina's hand stroke her hair in a comforting fashion, but Sapphire did not feel very comforted. Jaina then pulled away.

"This is probably a lot to take in."

Sapphire tightened her fists. So many lies. Her father spread such misery and suffering for her. For what end? Why would he have to keep this from her? Like Sapphire would have ever tried to seek out her own mother. Tears formed in her eyes but Sapphire refused to let them fall. She did not want to be upset. There was another emotion she was feeling.

She felt anger. Arthas would come for her, she supposed. Not to rescue her but instead to just recover his own weapon. He could come for her all he wanted. If she saw him again, she would rip out his throat.

As she thought all these thoughts, she heard Jaina clear her throat and her attention returned to her mother.

"Highlord Mograine is sending you to Hearthglen. There is a person who could see if you are a threat as your...father was."

Sapphire sat up straighter and opened her mouth but her mother interrupted her with a wave.

"This is nothing but a formality. If you wish, I am more than happy to accompany you."

Sapphire gazed into her mother's eyes, trying to see if she was misleading her. If a father could lie, why not a mother? Gorak Tul was family and he lied as well. Was there anyone Sapphire could trust anymore? She could not see any signs of deceit.

"Do you mind?" Sapphire asked sincerely.

Her mother seemed to light up at her response. "No of course not! Perhaps soon you can follow me to Dalaran? I think you will enjoy it."

Dalaran. The city of mages. Sapphire saw it floating in the sky of Northrend. A floating city full of wonderful things. The idea of actually going there...

Sapphire finally gave her mother a smile. "That would be nice."


End file.
